“ Pharma bro ” Martin Shkreli has been accused of copying and distributing a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin , worth $4m, according to a new lawsuit . The suit is filed by PleasrDAO, a digital art collective that bought the album from the DoJ in 2021 after Shkreli was forced to give it up as part of $7.4m in assets seized by a federal court.
That followed his conviction for securities fraud . The suit accuses him of violating the terms of both the original purchase agreement and the forfeiture order by allegedly making and retaining a digital copy of the album, playing it during his live streams, and sending it to others. Shkreli, who received his “Pharma bro” nickname after his company raised the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.
50 to $750, bought the album for $2m at auction. PleasrDAO purchased it for $4m. 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 album was designed as a statement on the way music streaming and piracy had cheapened the value of music, and the band said they wanted to have a “400-year-old Renaissance-style approach to music”. It is not known how many people have listened to the album, but the only .
