Former Ghost members’ lawsuit against Tobias Forge dismissed following trial

[News]

Last year, four former members of Ghost sued frontman Tobias Forge, claiming they didn’t receive their proper share of the band’s profits. Following a trial in Sweden last month, a decision was handed down today (October 17th) dismissing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which forced Forge (aka Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Copia) to reveal his true identity, alleged that the frontman controlled the band’s business affairs even though there was a partnership between the former members (known as Nameless Ghouls) and Forge.

Additionally, the onetime members — Simon Söderberg, Mauro Rubino, Henrik Palm, and Martin Hjertstedt — claimed they were surprised to find out that Forge viewed them as hired musicians, and not full-fledged bandmates.

According to the Swedish website Linköping News (via Blabbermouth), along with the ruling, the former Ghost members were ordered to pay $146,000 of Forge’s legal fees, although the frontman had claimed a total of $225,000.

In an interview with The Guardian back in June, Forge had said of the lawsuit, “A lot of the decisions that I made were based on trying to accommodate people’s wishes, trying to be a friend and set them up for life. That intention seems to have been turned into me trying to fuck people over. That feels like a betrayal because this was not done out of spite at all.”

The former members have three weeks to file an appeal. In the meantime, Ghost just released a music video for the track “Dance Macabre”, and will embark on a North American tour later this month. See the dates here.

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