Who runs Dominion? Firm's $1.3B lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell to go ahead
Dominion Voting Systems scored a major victory on August 11, after a DC judge ruled its lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell, and Sidney Powell would go ahead. The Denver-based business is suing the trio for $1.3b each after they claimed the company was responsible for the fraud that led to Trump's loss in 2020. The verdict is a devastating blow to the three, who have struggled to fight back against the massive defamation suit.
Despite being widely proved as fake, the three have continued to spread fake news around the 2020 Presidential Election. Mike Lindell, in particular, has been the forefront of the lies. In January, he claimed Dominion hired "hit groups and trolls" to cancel him and his company MyPillow. In February, he published a video called 'Absolute Proof', which was quickly banned on major social networks.
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After Dominion filed the suit in January, the three attempted to have it quashed. Powell argued that her statements were not fact, but claims, and should hence not be subject to a lawsuit, which social media called the "Tucker Carlson defence". Giuliani and Lindell adopted similar strategies too but to no avail. The DC District Court has ruled that the suit can go ahead, which is a big win for Dominion and its CEO, who recently testified before the Georgia State Election Board.
Who is the CEO of Dominion?
Ever since the insurrection, you've heard a lot about Dominion, but what about its CEO? The man behind the company is John Poulos, a Canadian-Greek entrepreneur and businessman. Like most businessmen, Poulos maintains a low profile, rarely appearing in public without good reason. Thanks to Lindell, Giuliani, and Powell, he's appeared in public more frequently these days to defend his company. If you wanted to know about his story, there's a lot of gaps.
Reportedly, Poulos holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and a Master’s of Business Administration from INSEAD. In 2002, he founded Dominion in Toronto, and grew the company by supporting elections in Mongolia and The Philippines, along with Canada and the US. The company became such a big success, Poulos was showered with awards and accolades. In 2010, he was named as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40, and awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award in 2013.
The founding of Dominion also led Poulos to co-found the Delian Project in 2014. The non-profit provides voting technology to emerging and post-conflict democracies. He's also known to be big on philanthropy. He is a youth hockey coach and a mentor to young aspiring business students. Poulos is also a part of an alliance of Greek-Canadian entrepreneurs. Beyond that, we couldn't find out more about Poulos. He doesn't appear to have a public profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. He's given a handful of interviews in the past, espousing the benefits of Dominion's solutions.
The fightback against election fraud
In December 2020, Poulos provided his first pushback against the claims of election fraud. He told the Georgia State Election Board, "The historic statewide hand count of every paper ballot produced by Georgia voters validated the security and accuracy of Dominion systems and added to a substantial body of evidence confirming the falsity of the lies being told about our company." Around the same time, he told Michigan lawmakers, "The disinformation campaign being waged against Dominion defies facts or logic. "To date, no one has produced credible evidence of vote fraud or vote switching on Dominion systems because these things simply have not occurred."
Then in January, Dominion filed defamation cases against Giuliani, Lindell, and Powell. It followed those up with cases against Newsmax and OAN. With the suites against the three Trump allies set to go ahead, it is likely Newsmax and OAN will also be taken to trial. "Powell cannot shield herself from liability for her widely disseminated out-of-court statements by casting them as protected statements about in-court litigation," judge Carl Nichols noted. The judge also pointed out Lindell's use of promotional codes "after making his claims of election fraud."
It's unclear if Poulos will testify at the trial, but given his very public defense of Dominion in the past, it is possible. A date for the trials is yet to be confirmed, but it doesn't appear to be scaring either of the three. Lindell is still promoting conspiracy theories, and has countersued Dominion while Giuliani is continuing to slam the "act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing". Powell is the only one that seems to be taking it seriously, and is currently staying out of the spotlight.