Martin Shkreli sued for copying and playing Wu-Tang Clan album without permission

PleaserDAOthe digital art collective that owns the unique Wu-Tang Clan album Once upon a time in Shaolinsued the album's previous owner, disgraced former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, for copying the album and playing it to an online audience without permission.

In its lawsuit — filed June 10 in Brooklyn federal court and seen by Pitchfork — PleasrDAO outlines its largely public history Once upon a time in Shaolin. Shkreli bought the album in 2015 for $2 million. That same year, he was arrested and convicted, in 2017, of securities fraud. Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit nearly $7.4 million in assets, including the Wu-Tang Clan album. Shkreli was released in 2022, but while incarcerated, PleasrDAO bought Once upon a time in Shaolin for $4 million.

According to the lawsuit, Shkreli is still subject to certain aspects of the forfeiture order, including the requirement to “take[s] take all reasonable steps and bear all necessary costs to ensure that all Substitute Assets [i.e., Once Upon a Time in Shaolin] are maintained and kept in good and merchantable condition and have not been damaged, diluted or diminished in value as a result of any actions taken or not taken by the defendant and its agents.”

Shkreli, the lawsuit alleges, has violated the seizure order by making copies of the album and playing it in public — something he readily admitted to doing, even the day before the lawsuit was filed when he posted on X“Good @pleasrdao They blocked me from their account so I think I'll play the album on intervals now.”

In the lawsuit, PleasrDAO states, “Any dissemination of the album's music to the general public would significantly diminish and/or destroy the value of the album and significantly harm PleasrDAO's reputation and ability to commercially exploit the album.”

Additionally, PleasrDAO alleges that Shkreli has gained his own unjust enrichment through the promotion of the Wu-Tang Clan's allegedly illegal music files.

PleasrDAO and his lawyer are seeking an inventory of Shkreli's files, seizure of copies, damages and more.

In various posts on X, Shkreli has he was mocked PleasrDAO who sued him and defended his actions. Pitchfork has reached out to PleasrDAO's attorney, Steven Cooper, for comment and more information.

Starting Saturday, Once upon a time in Shaolin will be played publicly for an essay in Australia Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). A contract states that the album cannot be commercially exploited until 2109, but it can be played at private listening events such as MONA's.