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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s bid to evade massive debt is totally ‘preposterous,’ cash advance firm says

Exclusive: ‘There were a lot of bad things that were done,’ Lindell told The Independent, ‘and that’s where it’s at.’

Justin Rohrlich
in New York
Tuesday 28 January 2025 15:07 EST
The Trump die-hard and pillow hawker is getting raked over the coals in court
The Trump die-hard and pillow hawker is getting raked over the coals in court (Getty Images)

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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.”

Mike Lindell is an experienced businessman with a direct line to the White House, not a guileless everyman, according to Lifetime Funding
Mike Lindell is an experienced businessman with a direct line to the White House, not a guileless everyman, according to Lifetime Funding (Getty Images)

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.

The increasingly contentious spat between Lindell and Lifetime stems from a September 19, 2024, agreement under which the financing firm bought $840,000 of MyPillow’s future receipts for a one-time lump sum of $600,000, minus $36,035 in fees, according to court filings.

Mike Lindell, seen here with President Donald Trump during his first term in office, says he wants the merchant cash advance industry to face more stringent government regulations
Mike Lindell, seen here with President Donald Trump during his first term in office, says he wants the merchant cash advance industry to face more stringent government regulations (AFP via Getty Images)

Although Lindell now argues he didn’t know what he was getting himself into, Lifetime’s motion to dismiss says a financially struggling Lindell agreed wholeheartedly to the terms, initialing once and signing his name twice on the first page of the contract, subsequently signing again in 11 different places and initialing each page.

Of the $563,965 Lindell netted from Lifetime, he “remitted only $268,800 of [MyPillow’s] receivable before refusing to further perform,” the company’s motion states. “To date, therefore, MyPillow has gained $295,965 on the parties’ transaction. Apparently, this isn’t enough. My Pillow has now filed this RICO action seeking to recover damages under the theory that the parties’ transaction wasn’t a bona fide purchase but, instead, a disguised, usurious loan.”

For this reason, Lindell cannot claim damages, according to Lifetime, which says in its motion that because the advance was not in fact a loan, his RICO claim “predicated on collection of unlawful debt [also] fails.”

Broadly speaking, the merchant cash advance (MCA) industry is not without its own issues. Attorney Barara Berens, who is representing Lindell in the Lifetime case, pointed The Independent to a 2024 lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against an MCA company and a slew of subsidiaries — Lifetime Funding not among them — which accused them of engaging in the “illegal practice of usury” by offering high-interest loans to small businesses, “cloaked as purchases of revenue.”

Last week, James settled with the firm for more than $1 billion, with a plan to cancel $534 million in outstanding debt held by the company, which will pay out at least $16 million in restitution.

In a previous interview, Lindell told The Independent that doing business with Lifetime was like “having a gun to your head.”

Lifetime Funding’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

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