A lawyer representing MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell in a defamation lawsuit acknowledged using artificial intelligence (AI) to draft a legal brief riddled with nearly 30 flawed citations, including misquotes and nonexistent cases, according to a federal judge. US District Judge Nina Wang highlighted numerous citation issues in a Wednesday order, citing misquotes, incorrect legal principles, improper attributions, and, most notably, references to fictitious cases. Judge Wang directed attorneys Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster to explain why the court should not impose sanctions on the defendants, their law firm, and individual attorneys, and why they should not face disciplinary proceedings for violating professional conduct rules. Kachouroff and DeMaster, defending Lindell against a suit by former Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer, both signed the February 25 brief containing the faulty citations. Kachouroff, lead counsel for the defendants, confessed at an April 21 hearing that he used AI to prepare the brief. Repeatedly asked to clarify the inaccurate citations, Kachouroff either declined or said it was a draft pleading. Only after direct questioning about AI use did he admit employing generative AI. He acknowledged failing to verify citations but claimed to have created an initial draft personally before using AI, though the court expressed skepticism due to the extent of errors. At the hearing, Kachouroff admitted to potentially paraphrasing quotes unintentionally without intending to mislead, and attributed incorrect case citations to checking by DeMaster.

He expressed surprise when told some cited cases did not actually exist. The court ordered the lawyers to provide sworn explanations by May 5 regarding the preparation of the brief, including whether defendants approved the AI use. Attempts to contact the attorneys, Kachouroff of McSweeney Cynkar & Kachouroff in Virginia and DeMaster in Wisconsin, are ongoing. The lawsuit alleges that Lindell, his media company FrankSpeech, and MyPillow spread baseless 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories and defamed Coomer, who was Dominion’s former director of product strategy and security. Lindell accused Coomer of treason, and defendants reportedly used their platform to malign him while promoting MyPillow products. They also spotlighted Coomer negatively during an unsuccessful "Cyber Symposium" broadcast globally. The problematic February 25 brief opposed Coomer’s motion to exclude certain evidence, which Coomer argued was irrelevant personal information aimed at smearing him rather than proving involvement in election rigging. Coomer sought to exclude evidence concerning a 2021 car accident, his sex life, alleged substance use, religious beliefs, and political views. Lindell’s lawyers argued, based on flawed and fictitious citations, that much of this evidence was pertinent to Coomer’s credibility, character, and reputation.