In 2021, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, launched the "Prove Mike Wrong" contest, offering $5 million to anyone who could poke holes in data he claimed reflected the November 2020 election. Lindell had asserted that the election was interfered with by China in several states. After his allegations were dismissed, Lindell launched the contest, hoping to prove his claims were valid.
However, Lindell's election data was proven to be false by software expert Bob Zeidman from Las Vegas. Zeidman spent a few hours examining the data and concluded that it was "all bogus." The data Lindell provided Zeidman amounted to "a simple Word document and a table" that were made to look sophisticated but were meaningless, according to Zeidman.
Zeidman submitted his findings to a three-member panel chosen by Lindell LLC, but after receiving no response, he sought legal representation and pursued arbitration to claim the $5 million prize. An arbitration panel with the American Arbitration Association found that Lindell's data was not related to the 2020 presidential election, and that failure to pay Zeidman represented a breach of contract, entitling Zeidman to the $5 million.
Lindell has indicated that he will appeal the decision, maintaining that he doesn't owe Zeidman any money, and that Zeidman didn't prove anything. The arbitrators, however, were not asked to rule on the truth of Lindell's claims or whether Lindell possessed data that proved China interfered in the election. They only determined whether Zeidman won the contest based on its rules and the data provided to him.
Zeidman expressed disappointment in Lindell's misguided claims, adding that it was all part of a coordinated plan to prevent people from getting rid of electronic voting machines in the country and returning to hand-counted paper ballots. Despite winning the challenge, Zeidman is uncertain whether he'll ever receive the $5 million. If he does, he intends to donate some of it to nonprofits focused on voter integrity.
