A court in Odense has ordered six volunteer board members of the now-dissolved Odense Øvelokaleforening to pay around 7.7 million kroner in damages to Odense Kommune. The ruling follows a fraud case involving the association’s former director.
The judgment from Retten i Odense was handed down on Thursday, August 27, 2026. DR reports that the court found the board members had failed to live up to their responsibilities. Odense Kommune had sued the six volunteers and the former director for a combined 7.7 million kroner.
The association ran the rehearsal rooms and operations of the Odense music venue Kansas City. Reports submitted to the municipality on the number of members turned out to be incorrect and inflated. According to TV 2 Fyn, the unlawful support stemmed from those inflated membership figures.
DR reports that former director Thomas Aarup was the person who applied for the subsidies. He gave false information about the ages of the members, which led the municipality to pay too much in support. The court stated that the board was not released from its responsibility by letting others handle the applications.
Liability is capped for each board member
The ruling limits how much the volunteers can actually be required to pay. Five of the board members can be held liable for a maximum of 1.5 million kroner each, while a sixth can be held liable for up to 500,000 kroner. Thomas Aarup must indemnify the board members for any amounts they end up paying to Odense Kommune.
That means the volunteers can claim a corresponding sum from Aarup if they are required to pay the municipality. Fyens Stiftstidende reported the decision as a civil ruling in the municipality’s case against the board members and the former director. The Copenhagen Post noted that the municipality can recover the money and that the board is considered partly responsible.
Aarup was sentenced in February 2026 to two years and six months in prison for his role in the case, according to DR. That criminal verdict has been appealed. The civil case decided this week concerned the financial liability for the excess subsidies.
Jesper Bøggild-Christensen, the former chairman of Odense Øvelokaleforening, told DR that the outcome was not the one the board had hoped for, though he described it as not the worst imaginable. He said it did not feel as though they had received the justice they should have had. Board member Jeppe Birkebæk Troelsen was also named by DR as disappointed with the ruling.
The lawyer for the board members has said they are now considering whether to appeal the judgment. The case echoes other disputes over financial responsibility in Danish associations, including a lawyer fraud case and rulings on bankruptcy quarantine in Denmark.
