Amid federal lawsuit, a judge says Martin Shkreli must go to court in person and testify under oath about the extent to which he copied and shared Wu-Tang Clanhis rare album Once upon a time in Shaolin.
In a brief ruling on Friday (October 11), the judge Pamela K. Chen scheduled a hearing for next month to sort out exactly what Shkreli did Once and for allan ultra-rare Wu-Tang record he once owned but was forced to surrender to federal prosecutors after being convicted of securities fraud.
The judge said the decision was designed to “resolve the deficiencies” in Shkreli's previous affidavits about the album's fate, in which the pharmacy manager said he was unsure who might still have copies.
“Defendant Shkreli will be called to testify under oath regarding the copying and distribution of the album tracks,” the judge wrote. “Both parties will be permitted to cross-examine defendant Shkreli on these matters.”
The legendary Wu-Tang album was recorded in secret and released only once, on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. Besides the odd pitfalls, Once and for all it came with strict legal terms – namely, that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103.
In 2015, Shkreli—soon to become infamous as the man who deliberately raised the price of critical AIDS drugs—purchased Once and for all at auction for $2 million. But after he was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he lost it to federal prosecutors to help him pay his multimillion-dollar restitution sentence. PleasrDAO, a group of early NFT collectors and digital artists, bought the album from the government in 2021 for $4 million, and in 2024 acquired the copyright and other rights for another $750,000.
Amid recent monetization efforts Once and for allPleasr sued Shkreli in June after he threatened to release the album publicly and destroy the exclusivity the label had purchased. The lawsuit accused him of both violating the federal forfeiture order and violating the federal Trade Secrets Act, which protects valuable proprietary information from misappropriation.
In August, Judge Chen granted Pleasr a preliminary injunction requiring Shkreli to turn over any copies Once and for all which was still in his possession. Shkreli's lawyers had argued that he had the right to make private copies when he owned the album and could keep them even after he had forfeited the original copy, but the judge rejected that argument.
Last month, Shkreli told the judge he had “searched my devices, my online accounts and other personal items” and turned over the copies he had. He swore he had done so “under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America.”
But he also said he didn't know exactly who he had shared it with and that some of them likely still have copies.
“Because I shared the piece of music several times several years ago, I can't remember every time I've shared the piece of music,” he told the judge. “It is possible, and indeed I find it very likely, that one of the many people who saw, heard or otherwise accessed the musical work through my social media, recorded the musical work and preserved a copy of it.”
Pleasr's lawyers were not happy. In a response filed days later, they told the judge that Shkreli's disclosure “falls short” of the judge's requirements and “raises doubt as to whether the defendant is, in fact, making a good faith effort to comply.”
On Friday, Judge Chen responded by ordering Shkreli to appear in court. His lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday (October 14).
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/wu-tang-clan-album-martin-shkreli-testify-copying/
