The Hives and the Cardigans involved in bizarre band-loan ruling

Defeat doesn’t come easy to the brash rock ‘n’ rollers in the Hives. But a Swedish court may have just one-upped them with a multimillion-dollar ruling in a strange case of management malpractice, according to the BBC and Radio Sweden.

The ruling orders the Hives to pay 18.5 million Swedish kronor (around $3 million U.S.) to another popular Swedish band, the pop-rock group the Cardigans. The two acts, along with several others, ran their band’s finances out of a bookkeeping company based in Malmo, Sweden, called Tambourine Studios.

The court claims that Tambourine routinely moved large sums of money between the band’s accounts that amounted to loans, and that the Hives ultimately had to pay back the Cardigans for the loans and added legal fees.

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The Hives denied they were aware that any of this amounted to a formal loan, saying in a statement prior to the ruling that there was “no agreement on the loan, no signed documents, no agreements on interest rates or terms of repayment.”

The Hives’ lawyer said they plan to appeal the ruling. Swedish authorities are also investigating the Hives’ claims that their signatures on several documents were forged.

Last year, the band sued their accountant for not informing them about Tambourine’s accounting practices, and the verdict in that case is still pending. The band most recently performed in Los Angeles at Staples Center, opening for pop singer Pink.

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