Martin Shkreli, convicted pharmaceutical executive, ordered to turn over any copies he may have made of the only (at least purported to be) Wu-Tang Clan album, Once upon a time in Shaolin.
The ruling was issued in the ongoing lawsuit between Shkreli and PleasrDAO, a digital arts collective that bought the album from Shkreli in 2021 after the offender was ordered to turn it over as part of a $7.4 million forfeiture tied to his conviction for fraud in 2017. According to the lawsuit, Shkreli violated the terms of both the original purchase agreement and the seizure order by allegedly creating and maintaining a digital copy of the album, playing it during his live streams and sending it to others.
On Monday, August 26, the judge overseeing the case granted PleasrDAO's request for a temporary restraining order (this is not a final decision, but a preliminary injunction pending the final outcome of the lawsuit). The judge ruled that Shkreli should be barred from “owning, using, distributing or selling any interest in [Once Upon a Time in Shaolin]including its data and files or the contents of the album, or in any way causing further damage to the Plaintiff with respect to the album.”
The judge also ordered Shkreli to “release and surrender all his copies, in any form,” of the album by August 30 and sign an affidavit stating that he has followed those orders. By September 30, Shkreli must file another affidavit containing information about alleged copies Once upon a time in Shaolinto people to whom he may have given them and any money he may have made from the distribution or playing of the album.
Shkreli's lawyers did not immediately return calls Rolling Stone's request for comment.
PleasrDAO filed a lawsuit against Shkreli in June. The original suit detailed several instances where Shkreli appears to admit to playing the album on his live streams or making copies. For example, in a stream on June 30, 2022 — a little over a month after his release — Shkreli said, “Of course I made copies of MP3s, they're like hidden in safes all over the world… I'm not stupid. I'm not buying something for two million dollars just to keep a copy.''
The lawsuit included more recent statements from Shkreli, such as tweets from earlier this year: “LOL I have the mp3s you moon” and “I literally play it in my argument all the time.” The lawsuit also cited a YouTube video from last May in which Shkreli allegedly said he “burned the album and sent it to like 50 different chicks,” then said, “You know how much that album made me want to fuck? »
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