Down-and-out former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli is being sued for copying and distributing the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album he purchased in 2015 for $2 million. According to PleasrDAO, a digital art collective that bought the album from the Department of Justice for $4 million after it was seized from Shkreli to pay off his debts, Shkreli violated the terms of both the original purchase agreement and the forfeiture order.
As reported by Martha McHardy in The Independent, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is sometimes referred to as the most valuable album ever made, and was recorded in secret between 2006 and 2013. It sits in an ornate silver box and consists of two CDs with a leather-bound manuscript containing lyrics and a legal agreement stating that the owner cannot release the tracks for 88 years, or until 2103."
The lawsuit alleges that Shkreli not only made and retained a digital copy of the album, but also played it during his live streams and sent it to others.
Earlier this year, Shkreli admitted to having copies of the album again in numerous replies to Pleasr when the company posted a photo of the album on Twitter, according to the lawsuit. "LOL I have the mp3s you moron", Shkreli allegedly wrote in one reply.
"I literally play it in my discord all the time," he wrote in another. He also wrote: "This thread is about someone listening to a CD >5000 people have…"; and "yeah I have the music, sold the plastic." In response to some Twitter users in the same thread expressing a desire to hear the album, Shkreli allegedly said, "i can just upload the mp3s if you want? email addy?"
Then again in May this year, Shkreli allegedly said in a YouTube video that he had "burned the album and sent it to like, 50 different chicks," before quipping, "Do you know how many blowjobs that album got me?" the lawsuit says.
Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in 2018 after raising the price of an HIV/AIDS drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill. In 2022, a court ordered Shkreli to repay $64.6 million in profits and banned him from the pharmaceutical industry for life.
Previously:
• Martin Shkreli weeps as he is sentenced to 7 years in prison
