A lawyer who filed a new election conspiracy theory-filled lawsuit on behalf of MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell has abruptly left the law firm that they were at when originally bringing the case. The lawyer, Alec Beck, worked for a firm called Barnes & Thornburg, but in a newly available statement, that firm says that Beck filed the lawsuit without obtaining required company authorization and no longer works there. The lawsuit targets Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, two voting technology companies that have been the subjects of Trump-aligned conspiracy theories about the integrity of last year’s election.
Lindell is arguing in his new case that Dominion and Smartmatic have used defamation lawsuits that they have filed against those propagating the conspiracy theories involving the companies to inappropriately silence political opposition. The lawsuit claims that the firms have worked to “silence Lindell’s and others’ political speech about election fraud and the role of electronic voting machines in it.” Of course, there’s no real evidence of the systematic election fraud that Lindell claims was present.
Meanwhile, Peck’s now old firm has commented as follows, referencing the Lindell case:
‘Late last night, firm management became aware of the filing of the complaint, which was done without receiving firm authorization pursuant to internal firm approval procedures. While the firm cannot comment substantively on pending matters, the firm is immediately taking the requisite steps to withdraw as local counsel in this matter and end the client relationship. The attorney representing the client in this matter is no longer with the firm.’
Beck confirmed in an update filed with the court that Barnes and Thornburg would no longer be associated with the case and that he himself was no longer working in association with the firm. Backing Lindell’s only increasingly unhinged election conspiracy theories doesn’t seem to have worked out well for Beck. It seems safe to assume that, no matter if he submitted his resignation or was formally fired, executives at Barnes and Thornburg presented him with an ultimatum following the revelation of his involvement in the case, making resignation and firing functionally just about the same in this situation.
Further update: Lindell's local counsel, Alec Beck, confirms in a new filing that he's no longer with Barnes & Thornburg and that the firm is out of the case. pic.twitter.com/RBSAEf3zzT
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) June 4, 2021
Lindell has pushed the idea that Trump will be reinstated as president by August of this year, and according to recent reporting, the former president himself is also harboring this idea — meaning that a former president has been hanging onto a fantasy of the overthrow of the current U.S. government.
Trump has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn’t how it works but simply sharing the information). https://t.co/kaXSXKnpF0
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
