A Bad Week for Team Kraken in Court

The Supreme Court snubbed Sidney Powell and a court orders Mike Lindell to pay up.

Last fall, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit largely upheld court ordered sanctions of approximately $150,000 against Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and other members of the "Kraken" legal team that advanced false and frivolous claims in their efforts to challenge the 2020 Presidential election results. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied Powell and Wood's petitions for certiorari without comment. This should end their efforts to oppose these sanctions (though other legal proceedings against Powell and Wood remain ongoing).

Yesterday, a federal judge in Minnesota affirmed a $5 million arbitration award against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who had offered a $5 million bounty to anyone who could debunk his alleged evidence of Chinese interference in the 2020 election. As I recounted last year:

Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert who had apparently voted for Trump twice, took Lindell up on his challenge. He analyzed the supposed evidence and demonstrated it was a steaming pile of digital detritus, and not evidence of any sort of election interference. Indeed, he showed (as Lindell's terms required) that the data had nothing to do with the 2020 presidential election. Lindell, expectedly, refused to pay, and the matter went to arbitration. There, despite Lindell having written the terms to make recovery difficult, the arbitrators sided with Zeidman.

Lindell refused to pay, so Zeidman took him to court, resulting in yesterday's judgment against the pillowmaker.

According to news reports, Lindell still maintains that he owes nothing, and will appeal. As with the 2020 election, Lindell seems to have a problem with evidence and legal conclusions that do not align with his priors. Also like Powell, Lindell faces other litigation, including defamation claims.

Unfortunately for both Powell and Lindell, they may have to bear the costs of their mounting legal losses themselves. Unlike Donald Trump, they do not have a political party and campaign organizations that will cover their legal costs.