NORTH WHITEHALL TWP, Pa. — A township man who served as one of President Donald Trump's false electors in 2020 has been named in a federal lawsuit for allegedly stiffing a cybersecurity firm after it failed to find evidence of election fraud.
In the lawsuit filed last month in Michigan's Eastern District Court, the New York-based cybersecurity company XRVisions claims Bill Bachenberg and Stefanie Lambert hired the company to examine voting machines in Fulton County, Pa.
- Bill Bachenberg is a prominent donor of conservative causes who owns Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays
- He is being sued in federal court by a cybersecurity firm that investigated election fraud
- The suit claims Bachenberg and a co-defendant didn't like the outcome of the investigation and haven't paid the firm
Lambert, a Michigan-based attorney, and Bachenberg, the owner of Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays, had previously hired the firm in 2021, paying it $200,000 to analyze the voting machines used in Antrim County, Michigan.
While Lambert oversaw the projects, Bachenberg provided a $1 million line of credit to fund the work and provided detailed instructions through Lambert, according to the suit.
In March 2022, Lambert and Bachenberg entered into another agreement to have XRVisions perform a forensic analysis on voting machines in Fulton County, Pa. Lambert represented the county but falsely told XRVisions that she had been authorized to hire the firm. After Lambert and Bachenberg expanded the scope of the contract, they were on the hook to pay the company $550,00 for the work, according to the court filing.
"Bachenberg funded these investigations because he sought local and national fame, glory and esteem for discovering and proving voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election," the lawsuit alleges.
After about two months of analysis, the company informed Lambert and Bachenberg that while they determined the machines were highly insecure, they could find no evidence that they had been hacked or programmed to favor one candidate over another, according to the lawsuit. The defendants requested the company produce a report claiming that machines contained "cheat codes" or evidence of hacking. XRVisions refused and instead produced a report in July 2022 that reflected their findings.
"This report did not find any evidence of election fraud in the 2020 election, and Defendants were furious," the lawsuit states.
In the year since the report was issued, Bachenberg and Lambert failed to pay the $550,000 due.
Instead, the suit claims Lambert began a defamation campaign against XRVisions, contacting clients and trying to persuade them to end their business with the firm. That included telling state governments in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that the company president was incompetent, secretly working on behalf of the federal government and had conflicts of interest that prevented the firm from taking the work, according to the suit. As a direct result of Lambert's actions, XRVisions lost a contract with the Pennsylvania Senate, the suit states.
The suit accuses Lambert and her law firm of two counts of libel, two counts of slander and breach of contract, among other charges. It accuses Bachenberg of breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other charges. It seeks $5 million in compensatory damages, $5 million in punitive damages and $550,000 for its work performed in the Fulton County contract.
LehighValleyNews.com attempted to contact Bachenberg through Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays. A manager who took the call declined to comment.
Bachenberg has become a prominent donor and supporter of conservative causes. He's hosted U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr. at his business in recent years.
In addition, he chaired a meeting of fraudulent electors that attempted to award Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes to then-President Trump even though former Vice President Joe Biden won the popular vote. His activities led the U.S. House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to serve him with a subpoena.
Lambert was involved in multiple meritless lawsuits alleging voter fraud in Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to an investigation by Reuters. On Thursday, she was charged with illegally accessing and tampering with voting machines in Michigan. She has denied wrongdoing.
In addition, she's at risk of losing her law license for heralleged election misconduct.
