When band members sue each other, it’s always a good time. There’s always an immense amount of drama that goes down; this occurrence was no exception.
Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello pretty much stole $500,000 of the band’s cash and put Bordello in between a rock and a hard place financially. The guitarist, Oren Kaplan, was the one who accused Hutz and a lawsuit formed. Pretty much if you look through all the big dumb confusing words and get down to the bottom of it, here’s the breakdown.
Gypsy Punks LLC are the backbone of Gogol Bordello’s business stuff. Kaplan filed a lawsuit with Gypsy Punks on his side, against Hutz, and submitted this claim to the New York county supreme court. Hutz’s charged with breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duty. Pretty much, Kaplan wants $950,000 for the band again, and the same amount to Gypsy Punks.
The important part, however, is how this all went down. In 2009, Hutz took over all of the band’s money and accounting. This apparently gave him the idea that he had the power to pay himself a salary of $130,000, which is twice as much as any other member. $500,000 of the band’s money was transferred by Hutz, who claimed they were “loans”; these “loans” didn’t seem to mean much because Hutz never payed interest.
All of this escalated when Kaplan left, and his accountant found that Hutz was moving and taking money.
Now that’s just ridiculous. To do that to your band, that you front, and force them into a financial rut…is just horrible. I don’t know what Hutz’s deal is, but hopefully this lawsuit goes through. If anything, refund the money. Best case scenario, the interest puts the band back into financial normalcy.