Convicted felon and ex-pharmacy profiteer Martin Shkreli has been ordered to surrender all his copies of a one-off Wu-Tang Clan album he used to own, according to ArtNet. The preliminary injunction, issued by federal judge Pamela Chen, was made on behalf of an NFT collective called PleasrDAO, the current owner of the record. As part of the ruling, the court ordered Shkreli to turn over all copies to his attorney within a week, along with an affidavit confirming he’d done so (under penalty of perjury). He must provide an inventory of all copies of the album, a list of anyone who may have received it and any money made from distribution. Shkreli purchased the only copy of the Wu-Tang album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin back in 2015 for a reported $2 million at auction, but following his securities fraud conviction, the album was seized along with other assets to satisfy a forfeiture judgement. The government then sold the album in 2021 to PleasrDAO for $4.75 million. However, that group sued Shkreli in June 2024, accusing him of streaming the music as part of a “Wu-Tang Official Listening Party” on social media. In June, Judge Chen issued restraining order requiring Shkreli to stop distributing the album and to appear in court to explain why he should be allowed to keep his copies.
