Former Members Of Ghost Bring A New Lawsuit Against Tobias Forge


 

In the ongoing saga of the band Ghost and their legal woes, four former members of the band who recently lost their case to former frontman Tobias Forge are looking to have a new trial instated. The four musicians believe the judge who ordered the dismissal of the lawsuit last month had a conflict of interest in overseeing the case since both he and Forge are members of the Swedish Order Of Freemasons (Swedish: Svenska Frimurare Orden). Forge was the founder of Ghost and claimed the former members here hired hands and not partners or equal in the band, with documents that were proven in court to back this up. The trial in Linköping District Court lasted for six days, and on October 17, a 108-page decision was released dismissing the case. The four former members were also ordered to pay Forge’s legal fees, which could amount to approximately $146,000 USD.

Simon Söderberg (Alpha; member of Ghost from 2010 until 2016), Mauro Rubino (Air; member of Ghost from 2011 until 2016), Henrik Palm (Eather; member of Ghost from 2015 until 2016) and Martin Hjertstedt (Earth; member of Ghost from 2014 until 2016) — have appealed the ruling, and their attorney, Michael Berg wrote in court documents that “it must have been almost impossible” for judge Henrik Ibold “to objectively and impartially assess the probative value of the information that Tobias Forge has provided.” Söderberg, Rubino, Palm and Hjertstedt have reportedly spent 2.9 million kronor (approximately $320,000) in legal fees on the case so far.

Forge told The Pulse Of Radio that the lawsuit only inspired him to work harder at making Ghost a success. “I had a situation that urgently told me to salvage the situation and reclaim what is mine and also justify that it was mine to begin with,” he said. “It’s just growing pains, and all this has just been — it’s the result of things going well, not the opposite.”