Back in October, the lawsuit against Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge by four former members of the group was thrown out of a Swedish court. Four former members of Ghost – Simon Söderberg, Mauro Rubino, Henrik Palm and Martin Hjertstedt – saw the lawsuit they filed against frontman Tobias Forge dismissed. The band claimed that Forge had been collecting all the royalties and revenue from the band's merchandise and touring but never provided other band members with any financial statements.
Adding insult to their alleged injury, the ruling also required them to cover Forge's legal fees totaling $146,000. The members themselves have reportedly spent 2.9 Swedish Kronor (around $320,000 USD) on legal fees. The former members are now seeking a new trial. Their lawyer, Michael Berg, has appealed on their behalf, with an interesting twist.
According to a Swedish news site, NT.se, the former members are accusing the judge of being "disloyal" and saying he was not able to act objectively:
"For Henrik Ibold, it must almost have been impossible to objectively and impartially assess the probative value of the information that Tobias Forge has left," Berg said in the filing. He accused both the judge and Forge of being members of the Swedish Order of Freemasons.
When NT.se contacted the judge, he denied having any prior knowledge of Forge's membership to the Freemasons saying "I did not know he was a member of the Freemasonry Order. On the other hand, I had heard some rumors that it could be so."
The Swedish Order of Freemasons goes back all the way to 1735.
