US sells one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album to satisfy forfeiture judgment of 'Pharma Bro'
Martin Shkreli. Photo from Shutterstock.
Federal prosecutors in New York have sold a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album to help satisfy a forfeiture judgment against “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, a former drug company CEO convicted of securities fraud.
The buyer and the price paid are secret under confidentiality provisions in the contract of sale, according to a Department of Justice press release. The proceeds will be applied to satisfy the outstanding balance owed on a $7.36 million forfeiture judgment.
Above the Law, Law360, the New York Times and Reuters have coverage.
Shkreli paid $2 million for the hip-hop group’s album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, which includes a hand-carved nickel-silver box, as well as a leather-bound manuscript containing lyrics and a certificate of authenticity.
Peter Scoolidge, the lawyer who represented the buyer, told the New York Times that his client will be bound by original contract restrictions banning commercial release for 88 years.
Scoolidge told the New York Times that he inspected the album.
“It’s a banger, man. It’s a banger,” he said.
Shkreli lawyer Benjamin Brafman told Reuters and Law360 that the album apparently sold for “substantially more” than Shkreli paid for it. In an April court filing, prosecutors said Shkreli still owed $2.2 million. Since the forfeiture balance is now satisfied, the sale must have netted that same amount or more, Shkreli’s lawyer, Brianne E. Murphy, told the New York Times.
Shkreli was convicted in August 2017 for scheming to defraud investors in his hedge funds and to manipulate the price of stock in his publicly traded pharmaceutical company, Retrophin. He led another drug company when he hiked the price of its lifesaving drug Daraprim by more than 5,400% to $750 per pill.
Shrkeli was sentenced to seven years in prison. According to Reuters, he has served more than half the sentence and is scheduled for release in October 2022.
