Judge orders ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli to return copies of rare Wu-Tang album

A New York federal judge has ordered “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli to surrender any copies he possesses of a rare, unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album.

Shkreli, a former drug firm executive, previously forfeited the album’s only physical copy to pay off court debts – after being convicted in 2017 of securities fraud.

But the album’s current owner has accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies and playing the music for others, breaking the forfeiture order.

Shkreli has been told to turn over all copies of the album by the end of the week.

Multi-platinum hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clain created just one copy of the album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, and auctioned it in 2015 under the condition it could never be released publicly.

The group spent six years on the 31-track album and wanted it to be viewed as a piece of contemporary art.

It was sold for a reported $2m (£1.5m) to Shkreli – a man who became infamous that same year for dramatically increasing the price of a life-saving drug known as Daraprim; a move he later walked back.

In 2017, Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud after lying to investors and cheating them out of millions.

He was ordered to forfeit $7.4m to the US government and surrender a set of assets that included the Wu-Tang album, CNBC reports.

Shkreli was released from jail in 2022 after serving the majority of a seven-year sentence.

The accusation that he retained digital copies of the album was made by PleasrDAO, a cryptocurrency collective which has filed a lawsuit against him.

The collective now owns the physical copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. having paid a reported $4.75m for it.

The federal judge last month blocked Mr Shkreli from streaming or sharing the record. Her new order, issued on Monday, prevents him from possessing the album and its contents.

A lawyer for PleasrDAO said the ruling was “an important victory”.

Shkreli’s own legal representative referred to the ongoing lawsuit his client was fighting: “This order is merely a preliminary measure entered by the court to maintain the perceived status quo before any discovery occurs – the order has no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case.”