Trump ally Mike Lindell ordered to pay $5 million for election allegation challenge

April 20 (UPI) -- Arbitrators have ruled MyPillow CEO and noted Trump ally Mike Lindell must pay $5 million to a man who answered his "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge.

Lindell has been among the most vocal and notable people pushing unfounded theories about the 2020 election. While appearing at an event in South Dakota in 2021, Lindell claimed that he had data to prove China interfered in the 2020 election, which was won by President Joe Biden.

Lindell laid out a challenge to anyone who could prove that his data was not connected to the election results, offering $5 million to do so.

Nevada software engineer Robert Zeidman answered the challenge and allegedly proved Lindell's claim to be wrong. Lindell has since refused to pay Zeidman's reward.

In a 23-page ruling, the American Arbitration Association panel ruled that Lindell breached a contract by refusing to pay Zeidman. It ordered Lindell to pay $5 million to Zeidman within 30 days, CNBC reports.

"Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract," the arbitration panel wrote, according to CNN. "He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prize was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover."

"I knew from the beginning that I would win," Zeidman said. "This was obviously manufactured bogus data."

Zeidman describes himself as a "right-wing conservative" and said he voted for former President Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, according to CNBC.

Zeidman said the data he was given was in a large Microsoft Word document, according to CNBC. Zeidman filed for arbitration in November 2021, not expecting to be paid by Lindell.

Lindell plans to challenge the panel's decision, The New York Times reports.

"This is disgusting," he said.

Lindell also faces a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over his claims that the company was involved in a plot to steal the 2020 election.