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New lawsuit claims executive convicted Martin Shkreli copied and shared a rare album from Wu-Tang Clan was bought by an art collective, in violation of their agreement.
On Monday (June 10), former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, aka “Pharma Bro,” has been sued in a Brooklyn, New York court by digital art collective PleasrDAO. Group Claims Shkreli Breached Deal Where They Bought Rare Wu-Tang Clan Album Once upon a time in Shaolin by him keeping copies of the album and sharing it with his followers on social media, claiming he did so after his release from prison in May 2022.
“Any dissemination of the Album's music to the general public substantially diminishes and/or destroys the value of the Album and materially harms PleasrDAO's reputation and ability to commercially exploit the Album,” the filing states. PleasrDAO pointed to Shkreli's recent comments in social media posts, particularly on X, formerly Twitter. “I was playing it on YouTube the other night even though someone paid $4 million for it,” one post reads.
The group also claims to have played parts of the album at a “Wu-Tang official listening party,” in another post on Sunday (June 9). PleasrDAO claimed to have completed the purchase of its physical copy and digital rights Once upon a time in Shaolin in 2021 and 2024 in two separate deals. Shkreli was forced to sell the album, which he acquired at auction in 2015 for $2 million to pay off a $7.4 million forfeiture order after he was convicted in 2017 of conspiring to defraud investors as a drug maker and defrauding hedge fund investors. Shkreli became infamous for raising the price of Daraprim, the drug manufactured by his Turing Pharmaceuticals, from $17.50 per tablet to an astronomical $750 per tablet.
U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Chen was issued a temporary restraining order against Shkreli on Tuesday (June 11), preventing him from sharing the album and stating that the lawsuit is “likely to succeed on the merits” leading to a possible order and confiscation of Shkreli's copies. The rare Once upon a time in Shaolin The album is currently on display at the Museum of Old and New Art in Australia, which plans to hold private listening sessions with songs from the album this week. Shkreli has so far been defiant online, mocking them in a post on X, formerly Twitter, the same day and retweeting his followers who joined in on the mockery.
