So-called “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli has been ordered by a federal judge to turn over all copies of the ultra-rare unreleased 2015 Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and is barred from streaming any additional content from the record.
The Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating Once Upon a Time in Shaolin before putting a single copy of the 31-track double album up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly. The multi-platinum hip-hop group wanted it viewed as a piece of contemporary art.
Shkreli, a former pharmaceutical executive who rose to infamy after he tried to astronomically raise the price of a life-saving drug, purchased the album for $2m in 2015 – but was forced to forfeit it in the aftermath of his 2021 securities fraud conviction for lying to investors and cheating them out of millions of dollars. The album was then bought by PleasrDAO, a cryptocurrency collective, for $4.75m.
In June, PleasrDAO sued Shkreli and accused him of retaining and disseminating digital copies, in violation of their deal.
Judge Pamela K Chen in Brooklyn wrote that Shkreli must produce all copies of what is sometimes referred to as the world’s rarest album and report the names of anyone he distributed the music to by 30 September, along with any revenues he received from it.
Steven Cooper, an attorney for PleasrDAO, called the ruling “an important victory”, in a statement, adding that the company is pleased that the judge “recognized that immediate relief was necessary to thwart the continuing bad acts of Mr. Shkreli”.
Edward Paltzik, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in an email that the judge’s order maintained “the perceived status quo” of the lawsuit’s progression and has “no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case”.
He also noted that the judge did not make a finding that PleasrDAO was likely to succeed on the merits or that its allegations were true.
In 2022 after Shkreli was released from a seven-year sentence for his fraud conviction, he bragged publicly online that he still had a copy of the album, which he then streamed parts of for some of his social media followers, according to the complaint filed against Shkreli. It wasn’t the first time.
There’s also online footage of him playing the record to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election.
The judge’s order prohibits him from “possessing, using, disseminating, or selling any interests in the Album, including its data and files”, in addition to providing a detailed accounting of where the copies are and who has access to them, along with any revenue he’s received.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
