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Smartmatic wants Mike Lindell held in contempt over debt

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:53:50 +0000

Mike Lindell listens during an interview from the podium in the press briefing room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is refusing to pay a court-ordered debt, according to a Wednesday filing in Washington, D.C., federal court.

Now, voting software company Smartmatic wants the bedding magnate held in civil contempt “for violating the clear and unambiguous terms” of a January court order that put Lindell on the hook for $56,369 over frivolous claims he made in a failed lawsuit.

In the case, the underlying lawsuit was filed by Dominion Voting Systems, accusing Lindell and MyPillow of slander over false claims about the 2020 election. Lindell later sued both voting companies for myriad claims and lost. Smartmatic, in turn, moved for sanctions.

While the court sided with Smartmatic on that question in 2022, it was not until the company prodded late last year for their award that the dollar amount was finally decided upon. On Jan. 13, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, substantially pared down Lindell’s liability and ordered him to pay.

Roughly two months passed. Still, Smartmatic says Lindell is continuing to evade his responsibilities in the dispute he started.

“Smartmatic was improperly made a party to this Action by Mr. Lindell in December 2021,” the motion for civil contempt reads. “Shortly thereafter, Smartmatic was dismissed and the Court found that sanctions were appropriate for at least some of the claims Lindell had asserted. Now, nearly three full years after that ruling, Smartmatic continues to wait to be made whole. Despite the Court’s clear and unambiguous ruling earlier this year that Lindell compensate Smartmatic for the fees it spent litigating Lindell’s frivolous claims, Lindell still has not paid, nor has he meaningfully engaged in any discussions or negotiations regarding the terms of payment.”

Despite the court’s order directing Lindell to pay Smartmatic, the stalwart Trump ally only once made a suggestion on how to resolve the lingering payment issue on Feb. 5, according to the fling.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Despite multiple promises to pay’: MyPillow sued for nearly $9 million by FedEx who claims Mike Lindell personally reached out about unpaid debts and ‘delinquencies’

“Lindell requested through counsel that the proposed agreement be modified to require payments of $5,000 per month as opposed to a lump sum payment of the entire sanctions award,” the motion goes on. “Lindell did not provide any rationale, documentation or supporting evidence to Smartmatic evidencing a present inability to pay the ordered sum at one time. Lindell did not otherwise have any edits to the proposed agreement.”

Under the terms of the order, Smartmatic is not allowed to take full custody of the sanctions award. Rather, the company must keep the funds in escrow “[p]ending final judgment and a potential appeal as to Lindell’s counterclaims.”

On Feb. 21, Smartmatic rejected the installment offer.

Instead, the company responded with a finalized escrow agreement.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Defendant has not responded’: Law firm sues Mike Lindell’s MyPillow for over $75K to enforce settlement agreement in labor law violations class action lawsuit

“Smartmatic conveyed its understanding that Lindell did not dispute the actual terms of the Escrow Agreement, but was otherwise refusing to execute the Agreement and pay the sanctions award,” the contempt motion continues. “On February 26, 2025, Smartmatic requested that Lindell inform it by February 28, 2025 whether he would execute the Agreement and pay the sanctions award.”

Since that late February request, however, the company has allegedly not heard from Lindell at all, the filing claims.

“As of March 12, 2025, Mr. Lindell has neither executed the Escrow Agreement, offered suggested revisions to the Escrow Agreement, nor paid the sanctions ordered by this Court,” the motion reads.

In pushing for civil contempt, Smartmatic cites federal precedent that provides a three-pronged rule for such a finding.

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In order to prove contempt in the federal district, a moving party must show there was a clear and unambiguous court order, that the order required a party to do something, and that the party in question did not do what was ordered.

Smartmatic says this case is an easy call — and that Lindell has not even tried to offer any kind of mitigating information.

From the motion, at length:

Here, each of the three elements for a finding of civil contempt indisputably exist …

Moreover, there is no dispute that Lindell has failed to comply with the Court’s Order. Despite several months of attempts, Lindell has not engaged with the exercise of negotiating the Escrow Agreement beyond his initial refusal to pay the full amount owed. What’s more, once Smartmatic finalized the Agreement, Lindell neither responded nor paid any amounts into escrow.

To the extent Lindell is claiming an “inability to pay,” he has not demonstrated any such inability beyond statements or conclusions offered to the media. Indeed, even if it were obligated to do so (it is not), Smartmatic is currently unable to assess any such ability or inability as Lindell has refused to produce his personal financial information in a separate case between Lindell and Smartmatic pending before the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, which refusal itself led to the Minnesota District Court holding Lindell in contempt.

Earlier this month, a federal court in Minnesota found Lindell in contempt in an altogether different lawsuit between the voting software company and the once-lucrative pillow manufacturer.

Law&Crime reached out to Lindell for comment on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.

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Kids playing ‘ding-dong ditch’ shot at, held at gunpoint

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 13:47:30 +0000

Melvin Rankin (Missouri State Highway Patrol).

A Missouri man on lifetime GPS monitoring shot at four kids who knocked at his door while playing “ding-dong ditch” and chased them down in a vehicle before ordering them out of their car at gunpoint and stealing their car keys, police said.

Melvin Rankin, 40, faces charges of unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action, and robbery. A probable cause statement spells out the allegations from Sunday in Springfield, Missouri.

One alleged victim told police the group had gone to IHOP to eat and then decided to “ding-dong ditch” the area of Edgewood Street. At one home, they rang the doorbell, and saw a man, later identified as Rankin, look out a window, the document said.

More Law&Crime coverage: Upset over ‘ding dong ditch’ game, man allegedly choked, tried to run over teens who played prank on his home

When they rang the doorbell again, the garage opened, and they heard a gunshot from inside the garage, according to the document. They ran to their vehicle and drove off but were followed by Rankin in a white Jeep Grand Cherokee, the probable cause statement said.

At a dead-end road, Rankin pulled up next to the victims, pointed a sawed-off shotgun with a pistol grip at them, and then demanded they get out of their car and lie on the ground, the document said. The victims did as they were told.

At one point, Rankin allegedly placed the gun to the back of the head of one victim on the ground and asked, “Who sent you?” and “Where’s the gun?”

The victims told the suspect they were just kids and apologized for playing “ding-dong ditch,” the document said.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Extremely mad’ driver who chased car full of teens at 99 mph over ‘ding dong ditch’ prank convicted of triple murder

Rankin then demanded their car keys, which he took and drove off in his Jeep, the statement said.

Police quickly located Rankin, pulled him over in a traffic stop as he drove his Jeep and arrested him, the document said.

At Rankin’s home, police found a single-shot, 20-gauge shotgun in the garage, wrapped in a towel in a drawer, according to the document. The shotgun’s stock was wooden and appeared homemade, crafted to where someone would hold it with their hand when firing, the statement said.

Rankin is a registered sex offender on lifetime GPS monitoring for a first-degree statutory rape conviction, the document said. He has a history of failing to report as a sex offender and failing to appear for court dates, according to the document. He also has convictions for breaking and entering, possession of a controlled substance, and driving while revoked, the statement said. Police said he is an admitted Crips gang member and has tattoos on his forearms displaying his gang affiliation, according to the document.

He is being held at the Greene County Jail with a bond review hearing set for Tuesday, online court records show.

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Giuliani claims his emails are ‘not communications’ but ‘more like documents’ during hearing over whether he should be held in contempt

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 02:43:13 +0000

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City on September 11, 2022, on the 21st anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania (John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx).

Rudy Giuliani appeared in a federal courtroom in Manhattan on Friday for a hearing on whether he should be held in contempt after the onetime personal attorney for President-elect Donald Trump allegedly flouted multiple court orders in connection with the two Georgia election workers he defamed trying to collect the $148 million judgment awarded in their favor.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, a Trump appointee, ordered Giuliani to appear in person for the Jan. 3 hearing on the contempt issue following numerous requests from the plaintiffs regarding his “consistent pattern of willful defiance” involving court orders to turn over of his personal property and provide information to plaintiffs for discovery.

Liman on Thursday rejected Giuliani’s last-minute request to appear virtually for the contempt hearing after the former New York City mayor said he was “having medical issues with his left knee” as well as “breathing problems due to lung issues” that were the result of him “being at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.”

The hearing, which began at 10 a.m., went through the day and will be continued at the same time on Monday. However, Liman will allow Giuliani to appear virtually for the proceedings as he will not be questioned by plaintiff’s counsel again.

During the proceedings, Giuliani claimed that he part of the problem with his failure to produce pre-trial discovery was that he did not believe emails constituted “communication,” according to the Inner City Press, which attended the hearing.

According to the report, Giuliani was testifying under oath when he made the seemingly outlandish claim.

“Do you understand that the term ‘communications’ would include emails?” Freeman and Moss’ attorney asked Giuliani, per Inner City Press.

“I don’t think so, no,” Giuliani reportedly responded.

“It is your testimony that emails are not communications?” plaintiffs’ attorney said in retort.

Giuliani reportedly held his ground, saying of emails, “They are more like documents.”

Friday’s hearing came after Liman last week signaled that he was likely to punish Giuliani for his repeated failures to follow court orders and called out the former U.S. attorney for filing court documents explaining his shortcomings with assertions Giuliani knew “to be untrue.”

Giuliani has had a rocky relationship with Liman, even going so far as to interrupt the judge during an in-person hearing last month to exclaim, “You are against me!” to Liman.

Following that hearing, Giuliani spoke to reporters outside the courthouse, where he railed against Liman, accusing the jurist of being an “activist Democrat,” Politico reported. Liman was appointed to the court by Donald Trump in 2019.

“Have you figured out what side he’s on? Are you too dumb to see what side he’s on?” Giuliani reportedly asked. “I’ve been a lawyer for 55 years. I can figure out what side he’s on.”

Giuliani reportedly continued the Liman diatribe as he got on the elevator.

“He doesn’t give a damn about the truth. He just gives a damn about being popular,” adding, “This is lawfare with capital letters.”

Giuliani’s legal woes are far from over, as he is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C. next week for a separate contempt hearing before U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who presided over the defamation trial just over a year ago.

That hearing stems from Freeman and Moss seeking to hold Giuliani in contempt for allegedly violating an order barring him from repeating the defamatory claims he made about the duo. The election workers in November filed a motion claiming his defamatory campaign against them continued even after they were awarded the astronomical judgment and Giuliani declared bankruptcy.

According to the filing, the former U.S. Attorney for Manhattan had been “brazenly violating that consent injunction” by repeating “the exact same lies” that resulted in the initial defamation judgment against Giuliani.

Giuliani’s dealings with Howell have not been much better than those he’s had with Liman. After missing a filing deadline with her last month to respond to the motion for contempt, Giuliani claimed it was Howell’s bias that had made it impossible for him to hire an attorney to represent him in the matter.

“I have spoken to four attorneys and each attorney has declined to handle this matter because they believe Your Honor is unreasonable and biased about [Donald] Trump-related matters and ‘ideological rather than logical,’” Giuliani wrote. “One said it was ‘a foregone conclusion’ and ‘a no-win proposition.’ Among other numerous reasons your handling of the J6 (Jan. 6) cases is considered by many to be the most unnecessarily harsh.”

Giuliani is scheduled to appear before Liman again on Jan. 16, to begin trial over whether he will have to turnover his Yankees World Series Rings and Florida condominium to Moss and Freeman.

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Death row inmate held in solitary confinement for 26 years can sue, federal appeals court rules

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 15:10:57 +0000

Criminal Justice

Death row inmate held in solitary confinement for 26 years can sue, federal appeals court rules

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 26, 2024, 9:22 am CDT

A death row inmate with a known history of serious mental illness can sue Pennsylvania’s corrections chief for holding him in solitary confinement for 26 years, a federal appeals court ruled last week. (Image from Shutterstock)

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia ruled 2-1 that inmate Roy L. Williams can sue for alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Associated Press covered the Sept. 20 decision.

The prison chief did not have qualified immunity because “individuals with a known history of serious mental illness have a clearly established right not to be subjected to prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement—without penological justification—by an official who was aware of that history,” wrote Senior Judge Theodore McKee, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, citing a prior case.

Williams was in solitary confinement between 1993 and 2019, when the state corrections department changed its policy because of a legal settlement. But the department was on notice that its policy was cruel and unusual because of a 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, McKee said.

The report said harsh solitary confinement for extended periods of time for prisoners with serious mental illness and intellectual disability “constitutes precisely the type of indifference to excessive risk of harm the Eighth Amendment prohibits.”

Judge Peter J. Phipps, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, dissented.

The majority “ignores this court’s precedent and misapplies foundational principles,” Phipps wrote.

Williams, who was convicted for killing a construction worker, had mental health issues since childhood, according to the opinion. He was 14 years old when he was involuntarily committed for suicidal threats and violent behavior.

Williams was represented by the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, which has filed similar lawsuits over solitary confinement.

Williams’ case “is the first to go up on appeal,” said Matthew Feldman, a supervising lawyer with the group, in an interview with the Associated Press. “So I think this opinion definitely will help all those other men whose cases are currently pending in trial courts right now.”

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Is ex-DOJ official facing ethics trial for ‘thought crime’? His election-fraud letter was based on sincerely held belief, lawyer says

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:42:24 +0000

Ethics

Is ex-DOJ official facing ethics trial for ‘thought crime’? His election-fraud letter was based on sincerely held belief, lawyer says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 27, 2024, 10:01 am CDT

Jeffrey Clark, then-assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 14, 2020. (Photo by Susan Walsh/The Associated Press)

A former Department of Justice official accused of drafting a letter with false allegations of election fraud that he hoped to send to Georgia officials did not violate ethics rules, his lawyer said at a disciplinary hearing Tuesday.

Jeffrey Clark, who was the acting chief of the DOJ’s Civil Division, is facing ethics charges for “”what amounts to a thought crime,” Clark’s lawyer, Harry W. MacDougald, said in an opening statement Tuesday.

Law360 reported the remark. The Washington Post, Legal Ethics Roundup, Law.com and Reuters are among the other publications with hearing coverage.

Clark had asked other department officials to sign the letter, but they refused, according to the charges by the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Clark then told those officials that former President Donald Trump had offered him the job of acting U.S. attorney general, and he was thinking of accepting it if the letter was not sent.

The two officials, then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen and then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, told Trump that he should expect all the assistant attorneys general to resign if Clark became the acting attorney general. Clark did not get the job.

Clark’s draft letter claimed that the DOJ had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia.”

Hamilton P. “Phil” Fox III, the lead prosecuting attorney in the discipline case, said Tuesday during the hearing Clark engaged in “coercive tactics to get this letter sent” and what he was trying to do “was essentially a coup at the Department of Justice,” according to Law360.

MacDougald emphasized that the letter was never sent, the Washington Post reports.

“This was an internal debate and an internal disagreement. The letter was never released by Mr. Clark or by the president,” he said. “Mr. Clark did nothing wrong in having a different opinion from his Justice superiors, especially when it was sincerely held, as the evidence will show.”

Clark is also facing criminal charges in the Georgia election-interference case against Trump.

The ethics charges allege that Clark tried to engage in conduct involving dishonesty by trying to send the letter with false statements, and that Clark tried to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice.

The hearing, which is streaming live on YouTube, is happening before a committee of the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility, which will make a recommendation to the full board if it finds ethics violations, Reuters explains. After action by the full board, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has the final say on discipline.

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Feds want Army vet who killed Iraqi held for Jan. 6 charges

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:15:46 +0000

Edward Richmond, Jr. (via FBI court filing).

The Louisiana Army veteran who was convicted of killing an unarmed Iraqi man must be kept behind bars ahead of his trial for assaulting police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors have said in an emergency filing.

Prosecutors say Edward Richmond Jr. should have been taken into custody after his arrest on Monday and are asking a federal magistrate in Washington, D.C., to override a local magistrate’s order denying pretrial detention.

In an emergency motion filed Wednesday, government lawyers say that Richmond is both a flight risk and a danger to those around him.

“Richmond has a previous manslaughter conviction for shooting a handcuffed man in the head; on January 6, he brought a metal baton to the Capitol and used to commit brutal assaults on officers,” the filing says. “When the FBI arrested him — an arrest that was complicated by Richmond’s efforts to live an untraceable life ‘off the grid’ — they discovered an assault rifle in his closet. Richmond poses both a danger and a risk of nonappearance, and the Court should detain him pending trial.”

“The government is concerned that, under growing pressure, he may snap again,” the motion adds.

Richmond allegedly “spent almost two hours attacking officers inside and at the mouth of the tunnel — participating in and bearing witness to some of the most violent attacks on law enforcement that day,” the memo says. He also allegedly used a “long wooden board to position against police attempting to guard the tunnel” and also used a baton to strike officers at the tunnel. According to the criminal complaint against him, Richmond wore a “black helmet, goggles, shoulder pads, an orange 2-way radio, and a patch on his chest of the Louisiana state flag” as he marched on the Capitol, where scores of Trump supporters violently breached the Capitol as the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win was underway, forcing lawmakers and staff to either flee the building or shelter in place for hours.

According to the memo, Richmond’s “history and characteristics” — specifically, killing a handcuffed Iraqi cow herder by shooting him in the head — support keeping him detained.

“Killing another person is perhaps the most serious offense recognized under the law,” the memo says.

Prosecutors imply that Richmond has already made efforts to evade detection, starting immediately after Jan. 6

“First, Richmond dropped his telephone number — the one used multiple times during January 6, 2021 — on February 5, 2021, after photos of Richmond were posted online by the FBI as BOLO 182. Second, by moving to an apartment that has virtually no paper trial identifiable by the FBI, including no active driver’s license, no utilities or vehicles in his name, and no traceable income, Richmond succeeded in preventing the FBI from verifying his address through any written means.”

Noting that his employment with his father has been “under-the table,” prosecutors say that Richmond’s “apparent effort to live an untraceable life outside the formal economy” makes him a flight risk.

When investigators did eventually track Richmond down through “physical surveillance,” a search of his apartment revealed that he was hiding something else, the memo says.

“Given his criminal history, Richmond is not legally allowed to possess firearms,” the filing says. “However, at his apartment, the FBI discovered an AR-15 rifle in Richmond’s home — complete with three fully loaded magazines, approximately 73 rounds of ammunition.”

An image of the AR-15 found in the home of Edward Richmond Jr., who is barred from owning weapons since his conviction for voluntary manslaughter (via FBI court filings).

Prosecutors note that in addition to his voluntary manslaughter conviction, Richmond was convicted of disturbing the peace in 2000 and driving under the influence in 2001. Also in 2001, he was arrested, but not convicted, of cocaine and marijuana possession and resisting arrest.

“His other arrests, while dated, contain other examples of lashing out under pressure, such as when Richmond was arrested for drug possession and reacted by committing a battery against the police, leading to more charges,” the memo says. “January 6 was not a one-time, innocent mistake, but rather one example of a pattern of dangerous behavior; of responding to tense situations with violence.”

Prosecutors say that Richmond’s pre-Jan. 6 history of violence warrants keeping him behind bars.

“Richmond’s dangerous conduct, of course, did not start on January 6, and it did not end there,” the memo says. “He has attacked officers before. He has killed a man — an unarmed, handcuffed man, a civilian — before. And he has now felt it necessary to arm himself with an assault rifle and over 70 rounds of ammunition in total defiance of the law. Richmond knows that a gun can irrevocably destroy lives. This did not deter him from possessing an assault weapon. He served multiple years in jail for shooting a man and was undoubtedly aware that any future possession of firearms could send him back to jail. This did not deter him. He cannot be trusted to follow the law, and he cannot be trusted not to lash out again.”

Although Richmond has family in the area who “may be a source of community support” — including a child — that may not be enough.

“[T]his support did not dissuade him from committing crimes on January 6 or keeping an assault rifle and over 70 rounds of ammunition in three fully loaded magazines in the same home that he shares with his child, knowing that he is breaking the law and risking arrest by doing so,” the memo says.

The government is seeking a stay of the presiding magistrate’s Jan. 23 order of release, noting that the magistrate judge “did not require GPS monitoring or impose a curfew; rather, the defendant must attend anger management and other treatment as directed by pretrial services, among other standard conditions.”

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