Former GHOST members – Simon Söderberg, Mauro Rubino, Henrik Palm, and Martin Hjertstedt – have requested a new trial in their lawsuit against the band’s leader, Tobias Forge.
Forge, who founded GHOST eight years ago, was sued by the four ex-members in April 2017. They accused the singer of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the band’s album releases and world tours.
The musicians claim that Henrik Ibold, the judge who ordered the dismissal of the case last month, had a conflict of interest in overseeing the case because both he and Forge are members of the Swedish Order of Freemasons.
Attorney Michael Berg, who represents the four musicians, wrote in court documents that “it must have been almost impossible” for the judge “to objectively and impartially assess the probative value of the information that Tobias Forge has provided.”
In an interview with NT.se, Ibold denied having known that Forge was a member of the Swedish Order of Freemasons, but admitted that he had “heard some rumors that it could be so.”
The source points out that the four musicians have reportedly spent 2.9 million SEK (approximately $320,000) in legal fees on the case so far.
