Martin Shkreli Forced to Surrender All Copies of Unreleased Wu-Tang Album

Martin Shkreli recently found himself once again in legal hot water after claiming to have made multiple copies of the one-off Wu-Tang Clan album that he once owned.

ArtNet reports that a judge ordered the pharma bro to give up all copies of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the Wu-Tang album he purchased in 2015 at auction for a reported $2 million.

The NFT collective, PleasrDAO, currently owns the album and sued Shkreli in June 2024, alleging that he streamed the music during a “Wu-Tang Official Listening Party” on social media. The judge ruled in favor of PleasrDAO and concluded that Shkreli has to surrender all copies of the album to his attorney within the week.

Additionally, he has to hand in an affidavit swearing that no other copies exist, an inventory of all the copies he made, a list of anyone who might have a copy, and money he made from distributing the album.

In 2018, Shrekli had to give up Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and all of his assets to pay a forfeiture judgment after being found guilty of securities fraud. Three years later, PleasrDAO purchased Wu-Tang’s album from the government for $4.75 million.

In addition to allegedly streaming the album online, Shkreli also bragged about making copies “hidden in safes around the world.” In June, when PleasrDAO sued the 41-year-old, the judge ordered him to stop distributing the album.

Recently, Method Man revealed that Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is “an uncomfortable subject to most of the guys,” adding that they “don’t really discuss it too much.”