The established record
Robert Zeidman looked at eleven contest files. He said they held no packet-capture data. He said they held nothing about the 2020 election. Arbitrators gave him $5 million. A district court confirmed it.12 The Eighth Circuit later reversed it. The panel had used outside evidence to add a PCAP rule. The signed rules did not include that rule.3 That ruling was about the contract. It did not prove the files were real. It did not prove election interference.
What Lindell's company promised
Lindell Management LLC offered a total of $5 million. To win, a person had to prove with “100% degree of certainty” that the data it gave out was not reflective of November 2020 election data. The rules said any dispute had to go to binding arbitration.3
Not MyPillow's judgment
Lindell Management LLC made the challenge. It was the party being sued. Mike Lindell owned it and ran it. My Pillow, Inc. was not the sponsor. It was not the party that owed money in these records.
What the eleven files showed in the first hearing
The arbitration record lists video, text, PDF, spreadsheet, and binary files. Witnesses said several files had no packets. They said the files had no timestamps, votes, or voters. They said no one could verify where the data came from. The three big binary files would not open as packet captures in Wireshark.1
These findings come from an award that has since been thrown out. They are still part of the case history. They are not a binding ruling right now. And these eleven files are not everything Lindell ever said he had.
Why the appeals court reversed
The written rules did not say “packet capture,” “PCAP,” “China,” or “vote switching.” They did not ask a contestant to disprove foreign interference. The arbitrators used Lindell's ads, testimony, and other outside material. They used it to treat election data as PCAP data. The Eighth Circuit said this added a rule that was not there. It said the panel went beyond its power.3
So Lindell Management won the appeal. It did not win a ruling that the files were real election packet captures. It did not win a ruling that China interfered. It did not win a ruling that any vote changed.
Where it stands now
The Supreme Court declined to hear Zeidman's appeal in January 2026.4 On August 12, the district court threw out the old award. It ordered a new hearing before the same arbitration panel. It paused the federal case until further order.5 The public record through August 23 shows no new award. It shows no verified payment.
The contest terms. The eleven files. The first award, agreed by all the arbitrators. The district court's confirmation. The appeals court reversal. The Supreme Court's denial. The order throwing out the award. The order for a new hearing. The pause of the federal case.
Not establishedThat a court proved Lindell's whole election theory false. That the appeal confirmed his data. That MyPillow owed the award. That Zeidman now holds an enforceable $5 million judgment.
Receipts 001 to 005
The challenge and its reversals
Claim map
Three questions, kept separate
- Technical
- What the eleven files held. And what the first hearing record said about them.
- Contractual
- Did Zeidman's proof meet the exact written rules? That question is back in arbitration.
- Election
- None of these courts ran a statewide election challenge. None recounted votes. None found that foreign interference changed the result.
- Corporate
- Lindell Management LLC signed the contract and was sued. My Pillow, Inc. was not.
- Not established
- A current award. A verified payment. Confirmed election packets. Changed votes.
Last updated: August 23, 2026.