MyPillow founder says Heartland Financial asked him to close nine bank accounts

MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell said Heartland Financial and Minnesota Bank and Trust are asking him to take his accounts elsewhere because he is a "reputation risk."

Lindell told Steve Bannon during a Friday episode of "War Room" that Heartland Financial wants him to close eight of his accounts within 30 days: Lindell Management, Lindell-TV, Lindell Outreach, Lindell Recovery Network, Lindell Foundation, Lindell Publishing, Michael Lindell Personal and MyStore.

The bank asked Lindell to close Frankspeech, a platform for conservative news, podcasts and TV shows, within one week.

"I'm not leaving, so you're going to have to throw me out of your bank," Lindell told Bannon. "Where does it end everybody? Where does it end when they're de-banking?"

Three accounts – the Lindell Foundation, the Lindell Recovery Network and Lindell Outreach – are 501(c)(3) nonprofits, according to Charity Navigator. A recovering drug addict, Lindell focuses much of his charity work on helping other people overcome their addictions. 

"This is a first for me, and I'm not gonna let it happen," Lindell said.

He thinks "somebody got to them… because of what's going on now, a year later." He said, "They need to shut down our voice, Steve… It's too late now, there's so many voices, but they still want to try." 

Bannon played a recording of a call from a top executive at Heartland Financial. The bank employee said: "Why are we connected with somebody that could be in the news. And, not that the FBI is even sniffing and looking, but what if somebody came in and said, 'You know what? We are gonna subpoena all of his account records and this and that.' And then all of the sudden we make the news. So it's more of a reputation risk."

Lindell is a close ally of former President Donald Trump. He has been banned from other platforms before, including video service Vimeo and social media giant Twitter.