Pillow pitchman, right-wing conspiracy theorist, and outspoken Donald Trump disciple Mike Lindell’s fiery allegations about a New York cash advance firm’s supposed “pattern of racketeering” are nothing more than an “absurdity,” according to the lender, which is now taking aim in court filings at the MyPillow founder as an unrepentant fabulist whose “preposterous” lawsuit should be thrown out altogether.
Contrary to Lindell’s ongoing assertions that he has been defrauded by Lifetime Funding, an outfit that fronts money to cash-poor entities in exchange for future receivables, the outspoken pillow salesman has actually made nearly $300,000 on the deal he now decries as “usurious,” according to a motion to dismiss filed in Minnesota, where MyPillow is based.
Lifetime’s motion says the 63-year-old Lindell and his attorneys “half-heartedly assert” in an October 2024 suit that Lifetime has violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a 1970 law intended to target organized crime, and goes on to mock Lindell’s assertion that its business practices are “unconscionable.” In his legal action against Lifetime, Lindell claimed he never realized the effective interest rate on the $600,000 the company advanced him against later sales would come to 441 percent.
“To succeed on this claim, Plaintiffs would have to establish that Lindell — a world-famous businessman who once had access to the Oval Office and the ear of the President of the United States — is on par with the commercially illiterate consumer that the doctrine of unconscionability was designed to protect,” the January 23 motion states. “Respectfully, this is preposterous.”
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Lindell railed not just against Lifetime Funding, but the entire concept of revenue purchase agreements and the industry that provides them. He also broke with the typical GOP orthodoxy on government regulation, calling for strict official oversight of merchant cash advance providers.
“It’s illegal what they’re doing, they charge 500 percent interest,” Lindell told The Independent, before immediately doubling that figure. “… You can’t charge 1,000 percent interest rates, it’s smoke-and-mirrors. There were a lot of bad things that were done, and that’s where it’s at.”
In many states, including Minnesota, receivables purchases, unlike loans, are not subject to usury laws, according to Lifetime’s motion to dismiss.
Lindell then fobbed his debt disagreement off on his attorneys, saying, “The numbers will be argued later.” He then abruptly pivoted to his ongoing fixation over claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, a thoroughly debunked contention that didn’t come up at all following the 2024 race, in which Trump, his preferred candidate, emerged victorious.
