Michael Lindell, CEO of MyPillow Inc., speaks during a campaign rally for President Donald Trump at the Duluth International Airport on September 30, 2020 in Duluth, Minnesota.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell sued British tabloid the Daily Mail for defamation in federal court on Monday.
“Mr. Lindell seeks redress in this libel action for harm inflicted on him as the result of a thoroughly deceitful, dishonest and defamatory media article written and published by [the outlet], which falsely charges him with seducing and carrying on a torrid love affair with actress and singer Jane Krakowski —a woman whom he has never even met,” the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by attorney Charles Harder begins.
The pro-Trump Lindell quickly threatened to sue the London-based publication after they published a report last Thursday claiming the home pillow guru had, over the course of nine months, engaged in a “secret romance” with the former 30 Rock star.
Both of the alleged lovers vehemently denied the report but the Daily Mail stuck to their story and the article is still live on their website.
Harder confirmed his representation of Lindell to Law&Crime over the weekend and promised that a lawsuit was well on its way.
Calling the controversial report “bogus,” the lawsuit notes that Lindell is “a reverent family man prominent in his church community” and an “alcoholic who frequently writes and speaks publicly about his spiritual triumphs over substance abuse.” The Daily Mail, however, accuses Lindell of “plying Ms. Krakowski with liquor, wine and other such gifts.” Those accusations, the lawsuit says, left him “horrified” over the implications regarding his family values and sobriety.
A portion of the lawsuit outlines that issue in depth:
In particular (and without limitation), Mr. Lindell founded the Lindell Recovery Network, a platform that helps those struggling with addiction connect with recovery organizations. Defendants’ fabricated story that he showered Ms. Krakowski with gifts of “champagne and bottles of different liquor” severely undermines Mr. Lindell’s hard-earned credibility, integrity and character in the field of addiction recovery as well as in religious communities. Mr. Lindell’s ability to succeed in this important effort have been severely impacted by Defendants’ wrongful actions.
The filing goes on to allege that the story is a “complete fabrication” and notes that both Lindell and Krakowski denied the claims advanced in the article before it was published.
“Notwithstanding the lack of any reliable factual support for [the Daily Mail‘s] allegations, the statements by both subjects that they did not even know the other person and that the story was false, and [the Daily Mail‘s] ability to interview other witnesses who similarly would have refuted the claims, [the Daily Mail] made the conscious decision to publish their defamatory statements anyway,” the lawsuit continues.
“At the time of publication, [the Daily Mail and journalist Laura Collins] were either aware that their statements about Mr. Lindell were false, or [the outlet and reporter] harbored serious doubts about the truth of the claims. [The Daily Mail‘s] publication of the defamatory claims reached numerous readers of Mail Online, and also foreseeably caused a chain reaction of republication of the claims in other news outlets, websites and social media, which reached many more readers throughout the world.”
And that chain reaction, the lawsuit alleges, “have caused tremendous harm to [Lindell’s] personal and professional reputation and prospective economic opportunities, as well as causing him significant humiliation and emotional distress.”
Lindell is suing the publication and Collins for defamation in excess of $75,000 a statutory placeholder figure used to satisfy jurisdictional requirements under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Based on the number and severity of claimed damages catalogued in the lawsuit, expect that dollar amount to rise substantially.
Read the full lawsuit below:
[image via Stephen Maturen/Getty Images]
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