Federal Judge Tells Martin Shkreli To Hand Over Rare Wu-Tang Album!

Pharma Bro must forfeit any illegally copied Wu-Tang album.

Robert "RZA" Diggs was condemned for releasing a Wu-Tang album that must be played in 88 years. The surviving members thought it was flat out stupid. The album is considered one of the most rarest and most expensive masterpieces in modern history.

The album was recorded in secret over six years from 2007 to 2013. A single two-CD copy was pressed in 2014 and stored in a secured vault at the Royal Mansour Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, then auctioned through auction house Paddle8 in 2015. A legal agreement with the purchaser stipulated that the album cannot be commercially exploited until 2103, although it can be played at listening parties.

The winning bidder was Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who paid a reported $2 million. In March 2018, following Shkreli's conviction for securities fraud, a federal court seized assets belonging to him, including Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice sold it to the non-fungible token collectors PleasrDAO for $4 million to cover Shkreli's debts; PleasrDAO said they hoped to make it more widely accessible.

The first public exhibition of the album began in June 2024 at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania. That month, Shkreli livestreamed the album on X, triggering a lawsuit from PleasrDAO. PleasrDAO also began selling partial ownership of the album as an NFT, with each purchase accelerating the release by 88 seconds.

Anyone wanting to hear this album will be dead by the time its played.

Ghostface Killah, Method Man, U-God, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Cappadonna, GZA and RZA make up the supergroup. Ol' Dirty Bastard passed away 20 years ago.

Ol' Dirty Bastard died on November 13, 2004, two days before his 36th birthday.

The album Once Upon a Time in Shalon was released in 2015. There is only one known album in the world. 

Judge Pamela K. Chen in Brooklyn wrote that Shkreli must produce all copies of what is sometimes referred to as the world’s rarest album and report the names of anyone he distributed the music to by Sept. 30, along with any revenues he received from it.

In June, Shkreli was sued by a cryptocurrency collective that bought the only known copy of the album for $4.75 million.

The collective, PleasrDAO, accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies of the album in violation of their deal and disseminating them widely among his social media followers.

RZA holds the Wu-Tang album with gloves. It is estimated to be worth $5 million.

PleasrDAO attorney Steven Cooper said in a statement that Chen’s ruling was “an important victory for our client.”

He added: “We are pleased that Judge Chen recognized that immediate relief was necessary to thwart the continuing bad acts of Mr. Shkreli.”

Edward Paltzik, a lawyer for Shkreli, said in an email that the judge’s order maintained “the perceived status quo” of the lawsuit’s progression and has “no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case.”

He also noted that the judge did not make a finding that PleasrDAO was likely to succeed on the merits or that its allegations were true.

This is allegedly the album cover.

The Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” before putting a single copy of the 31-track double album up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly. The multiplatinum hip-hop group wanted it viewed as a piece of contemporary art.

Shkreli bought the album for $2 million before he was convicted of lying to investors and cheating them out of millions of dollars in two failed hedge funds he operated.

In 2021, “Once Upon a Time is Shaolin” was sold to satisfy some of Shkreli’s court debts.

Shkreli was released from prison in 2022 after serving much of a seven-year sentence.