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Engadget
09-07-2025
- Business
- Engadget
The MyPillow guy's lawyers fined for error-riddled AI-generated court filing
MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy enthusiast Mike Lindell's legal team is in some hot water after submitting an AI-generated court filing, as reported by The New York Times . The legal brief was filled with errors, including misquotes of cited cases, misrepresentations of legal principles and references to cases that don't actually exist. All told, the court identified around 30 major errors in the document. Colorado judge Nina Wang issued fines for the mistake-riddled filing, stating that attorneys Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster of the law firm McSweeney, Cynkar and Kachouroff had violated federal civil procedure rules and that they "were not reasonable in certifying that the claims, defenses and other legal contentions contained in [the AI brief] were warranted by existing law." DeMaster and Kachouroff were fined $6,000 for the transgression. Lindell and MyPillow were not sanctioned for the improper filing, as the court noted that Kachouroff hadn't informed his client that he regularly uses AI tools like Microsoft CoPilot, Google Gemini and even Grok . When questioned, the lawyers admitted they used AI to prepare the brief but claimed they accidentally submitted an earlier draft in which the mistakes had not yet been corrected. Kachouroff said they had a corrected brief at the time of submission, but couldn't provide any evidence to support the claim. The team requested that any potential disciplinary action against them be dismissed but the court declined, finding that the explanation regarding the AI-written brief was not compelling. "Put simply, neither defense counsel's communications nor the 'final' version of the [brief] that they reviewed corroborate the existence of the 'correct' version," Wang wrote. "[N]either Mr. Kachouroff nor Ms. DeMaster provide the Court any explanation as to how those citations appeared in any draft of the [brief] absent the use of generative artificial intelligence or gross carelessness by counsel." The brief was initially presented back in February as the team defended Lindell in a defamation lawsuit brought forth by former Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer. A jury has since ruled in favor of Coomer . To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. My employee-owned company and I are in jury trial NOW and need your support! Get a FREE USA Revival Multi-Use MyPillow 2.0 with ANY purchase with promo code JURYhttps:// Dreams Bed Sheets LOWEST PRICE EVER!Any size! Any color! ONLY $49.98! My Cross…
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Mike Lindell's lawyers fined $3,000 for using AI that created fake court citations
A federal judge fined Mike Lindell's lawyers because they used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help write court documents that included fake legal cases and wrong quotes. The lawyers Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster filed a motion on Feb 25 that had almost 30 wrong or fake citations, says reports. This case is part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Eric Coomer, a former Dominion Voting Systems executive. Coomer claimed Lindell spread lies that he helped rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump, as per the report by USA Today. ALSO READ: Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton arrested for DUI in West Virginia — fails Sobriety Test and refuses breathalyzer Jury says Lindell defamed dominion worker On June 16, a jury ruled in favor of Coomer, saying Lindell defamed him. Lindell was ordered to pay over $2 million in damages, though Coomer had originally asked for $62.7 million. When the judge asked Kachouroff who checked the citations, he said he gave the task to his co-lawyer DeMaster, according to reports. The judge asked if the filing was made using AI. Kachouroff said, 'Not initially. I made a draft myself, then we ran it through AI.' The judge asked if he checked the AI's citations. 'Your Honor, I personally did not check it,' Kachouroff said, as mentioned in the report by USA Today. Live Events Judge calls it AI misuse Kachouroff claimed the document with errors was a draft that got filed by mistake, but the judge noted that even his 'final' version still had major errors. The judge said the lawyers' actions weren't just a simple mistake because of their contradictory statements and no proof to back their claims. The judge said this situation showed either AI misuse or total carelessness by the lawyers. Each lawyer was fined $3,000 as a punishment and a warning. Judge Wang said she didn't enjoy punishing lawyers, but this was the least serious penalty possible to make sure it doesn't happen again, as per the report by USA Today. ALSO READ: Flash flood devastates Ruidoso, New Mexico: Homes swept away, river rises 20 feet in 30 minutes FAQs Q1. Why were Mike Lindell's lawyers fined? Because they filed a court document made with AI that had fake legal citations . Q2. How much do the lawyers have to pay as a fine? They were each ordered to pay $3,000
The Independent
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Lawyers for MyPillow CEO fined thousands over error-strewn AI court filing about defamation case
Attorneys for MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell have been fined thousands of dollars over an error-strewn court filing written using artificial intelligence in his defamation case. A federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, ordered two lawyers for Lindell to pay $3,000 each, after they used AI to file a document that cited nonexistent cases and misquoted case law, according to the Colorado Sun. Judge Nina Wang ruled Monday that Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster violated court rules when they filed the motion, which included almost 30 inaccurate citations. 'Notwithstanding any suggestion to the contrary, this Court derives no joy from sanctioning attorneys who appear before it,' Wang said in her ruling. She added that the fines were 'the least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.' Lindell's defamation case came to an end last month when a jury found him liable for defamation after falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was rigged. The document filed by the defense in the case misquoted court precedents and emphasized legal principles that weren't connected to the cases cited, the ruling stated. Kachouroff admitted during a pretrial hearing that he had used AI to write the motion. While he said that the motion was a draft filed by accident, Wang wrote that the final version the lawyer said was the right one still had 'substantive errors,' including several mistakes that were not in the motion originally filed. Wang said it was the lawyers' 'contradictory statements and the lack of corroborating evidence' that prompted the judge to think the filing of the motion created by generative AI wasn't 'an inadvertent error' and was worthy of a sanction. Wang also addressed the allegation from Kachouroff that the court was trying to 'blindside' him over the mistakes. The judge said the accusation was 'troubling and not well-taken.' 'Neither Mr. Kachouroff nor Ms. DeMaster provided the Court any explanation as to how those citations appeared in any draft of the Opposition absent the use of generative artificial intelligence or gross carelessness by counsel,' said Wang. The violating motion was filed on February 25 in response to a previous motion by a former director at Dominion Voting Systems, Eric Coomer, who alleged Lindell defamed him by spreading the conspiracy theory that Coomer helped rig the 2020 election. The federal jury in Denver ruled in favor of Coomer on June 16. The initial lawsuit was filed in May 2022 against Lindell, MyPillow, and FrankSpeech, another company owned by Lindell. He was ordered to pay $2.3 million in damages. Coomer had asked for $62.7 million, USA Today noted. Wang asked Kachouroff during a pretrial conference if the motion had been 'generated by generative artificial intelligence?' 'Not initially. Initially, I did an outline for myself, and I drafted a motion, and then we ran it through AI,' said Kachouroff. He told Wang that he had delegated the citation checking to DeMaster, according to the court order. Wang subsequently asked the attorney if he had double-checked the 'citations once it was run through artificial intelligence?' 'Your Honor, I personally did not check it. I am responsible for it not being checked,' said Kachouroff.
The Hill
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's attorneys fined for inaccurate, AI-generated brief
DENVER (KDVR) – Two attorneys who were representing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in a defamation case in Denver are facing thousands of dollars in fines for submitting an inaccurate, AI-generated brief to the court in April. The McSweeny Synkar and Kachouroff PLLC law firm and attorney Christopher Kachouroff are facing 'jointly and severally' a sanction of $3,000. Attorney Jennifer DeMaster is also facing a $3,000 fine for the matter. Judge Nina Wang pointed out about 30 defective citations in a brief filed by the attorneys in February. The defects ranged from failing to include basic court information to citations of cases that do not exist. Wang, in her ruling, included an exchange in court wherein Kachouroff said he and DeMaster had signed and certified the brief. The court began by asking Kachouroff if the motion was generated by generative artificial intelligence. 'Not initially. Initially, I did an outline for myself, and I drafted a motion, and then we ran it through AI,' Kachouroff reportedly told the court. He was also asked if he had double-checked citations from the brief. 'Your Honor, I personally did not check it. I am responsible for it not being checked,' Kachouroff told the court, according to the ruling. Wang said she did not extend the sanctions to the defendants in the case — which would include Mike Lindell — because Kachouroff said he did not tell his clients he was using AI tools in his work. The defamation case against Lindell concluded last month, after a jury found that Lindell made multiple defamatory statements against Eric Coomer, a former employee of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, in regards to the results of the 2020 presidential election. On May 9, 2021, Lindell attacked voting machine companies and then said Coomer was a traitor. In another statement, on April 6, 2022, Lindell accused Coomer of being 'part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen.' The jury cleared Lindell of defaming Coomer eight other times for statements made by both himself and others who appeared on his online media platform. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
USA Today
29-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's lawyers use AI for court filing, push to move defamation trial
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's lawyers use AI for court filing, push to move defamation trial Show Caption Hide Caption Trump signs new executive orders aiming at sanctuary cities President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders aiming at sanctuary cities and immigration enforcement. Lawyers representing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell have asked a judge to postpone the defamation trial against him after mistakenly filing a document made with artificial intelligence. In an April 28 filing with the U.S. District Court for Colorado, Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster, the attorneys for MyPillow and Lindell, requested to push the proceedings to "ensure a fair trial and adequate preparation." Last week, federal Judge Nina Wang questioned the attorneys' use of generative AI in a February filing. Kachouroff said he uses generative AI to analyze documents, but said the filing was a draft that was mistakenly submitted to the court due to "human error." In Monday's motion, the lawyers said they have experienced "reputational harm, emotional distress, and significant distractions from trial preparation" because of last week's hearing about the mistaken filing. Former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer is suing Lindell for defamation tying back to claims the MyPillow founder made about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Coomer alleges that Lindell played a role in spreading a conspiracy theory that he admitted to rigging voting systems for Dominion. The trial is currently set to begin June 2. USA TODAY has reached out to Kachouroff, DeMaster and Lindell for comment. Lindell's lawyers admitted to using generative AI for documents Wang filed an order on April 23 that said the lawyers submitted a document in February with nearly 30 errors, including citation of cases that do not exist. Kachouroff admitted to using generative AI at an April 21 hearing, according to the order. The judge in the order threatened to penalize the lawyers and refer them to disciplinary hearings if they did not provide further explanation about the use of generative AI by May 5. In a response filed two days later, Kachouroff said he was "wholly unprepared" for the hearing about whether generative AI was used, adding that he had "never heard of that phrase before and refer to artificial intelligence as simply 'AI.'" He said he often uses platforms like Microsoft Copilot "to analyze my own and my opposition's arguments." "There is nothing wrong with using AI when used properly," Kachouroff said in the response. The response also said the document in question was an "inadvertent, an erroneous filing that was not done intentionally, and was filed mistakenly through human error." Lawyers push to move start date in defamation trial against Lindell On Monday, Lindell's lawyers filed a motion to postpone the start of the defamation trial, which is currently slated to begin June 2. The motion said the issues surrounding the erroneous filing made using generative AI "has imposedsignificant burdens" on the lawyers and interfered with their trial preparation. "It has triggered national media coverage, subjecting defense counsel to reputational harm, emotional distress, and significant distractions from trial preparation," the motion said. The lawyers also raised concerns about "potential jury prejudice" in the case if it moves forward with the June 2 start date. They requested the trial be pushed back by 45 days to begin in mid-July. The motion said Coomer's lawyer opposed the request. What is MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell being sued for? Coomer's case against the MyPillow CEO stems from claims Lindell made that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in former President Joe Biden's favor. The MyPillow founder has faced a slew of legal actions in recent years, including an ongoing defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Coomer, a former Dominion executive, alleges Lindell made defamatory remarks against him by spreading a conspiracy theory that Coomer had admitted to rigging voting machines. Melina Khan is a trending reporter covering national news for USA TODAY. She can be reached at MKhan@
