Federal Judge orders Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of Wu-Tang Clan's unreleased 'Once Upon a Time in Shaolin' album

A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered Martin Shkreli, a convicted pharma executive, to hand over his copies of Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the world's rarest album. He must also report the names of anyone he shared the music with and any revenue he received from it by September 30.

The unreleased 2015 album is by Wu-Tang Chu, an American hip-hop music collective who spent six -years creating it. The collective put up a single copy of the 31-track double-up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly since they wanted the album to be viewed as contemporary art.

The album producer Tarik "Cilvaringz" Azzougarh in 2015 while commenting on the album "rare" status said,

"In order to take it a few steps forward, why not take it 400 years worth of steps back to the Renaissance age, and look at music as a commissioned commodity, from creation to exhibition to sale."

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Why was Martin Shkreli sued?

Martin Shrkeli was sued in June by cryptocurrency collective PleasrDAO, who originally bought the only known copy of the album for $4.75 million.

Martin Shkreli bought the album for $2 million but was accused of retaining digital copies of the rare album hence violating the deal with PleasrDAO. Shrkeli was also accused of sharing the copies widely among his social media platforms.

PleasrDAO's attorney Steven Cooper in a statement after Martin was ordered to hand over the copies said that the ruling was "an important victory for our client."

"We are pleased that Judge Chen recognized that immediate relief was necessary to thwart the continuing bad acts of Mr.Shkreli."

Martin Shrkeli was a former drug firm executive who became infamous for dramatically incresing the price of Daraprim, a life-saving drug. In 2017, he was convincred of secrutities fraud after cheating and lying to investors. Shrkeli was asked to forfeit $7.4 million to the U.S government and surrender a bunch of assets which included the Wu-Tang album as per CNBC.

He served a seven-year jail sentence and was released in 2022. A year before his release, he sold the Once Upon a Time in Shaolin in 2021 to settle court debts. After his release, Martin Shrkeli publicly bragged online that he still has a copy of the album and streamed parts of it for his social media followers, as per a complaint filed against him.

Martin Shkreli also claimed that he had made copies of the album which were "hidden in safes all around the world." (the footage of his claims is no longer available online,)

There is also online footage available of him playing the record to celebrate Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. PleasrDAO currently owns the album and recently lent it to Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art in May 2024.