ST. PAUL, Minn. (NEWSnet/AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday affirmed a $5 million arbitration award against Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow.

The ruling favors a software engineer who challenged data that Lindell claimed was proof China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden.

Lindell said he plans to appeal and said the breach-of-contract lawsuit is against one of his companies, Lindell Management LLC, and not against him personally.

Lindell, who claims voting machines were manipulated to taint the 2020 election, launched a “Prove Mike Wrong" challenge” in August 2021.

Lindell offered a $5 million reward, through Lindell Management, for anyone who could prove “packet captures” and other data he released were invalid.

Robert Zeidman entered the challenge, with a report that concluded analysis from Lindell does not contain packet data of any kind or any information related to the November 2020 election. A panel of contest judges that included a Lindell attorney declined to declare Zeidman a winner. Zeidman filed for arbitration under rules of the contest.

In April 2023, arbitrators ordered Lindell to pay Zeidman $5 million, concluding he had satisfied the contest rules. In Wednesday's ruling, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim expressed concern about how the panel interpreted what he described as a “poorly written contract,” but said courts have limited authority to overrule arbitration awards. He ordered Lindell to pay, with interest, within 30 days.

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