In 2015, former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli purchased at auction the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $2 million. Shkreli, who earned the nickname Pharma Bro after he hiked the price of an anti-parasitic drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill, had to forfeit the album in 2017, after he was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced that
Once Upon a Time
in Shaolin was sold for an undisclosed price to an anonymous buyer, and the proceeds will be applied to the nearly $7.4 million Shkreli owes in forfeiture, ABC News reports. The album also comes with a hand-carved nickel-silver box and a leather-bound book with the lyrics and a certificate of authenticity. The buyer is represented by attorney Peter Scoolidge, who told ABC News this was the most interesting deal I have ever worked on.
An unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album forfeited by Martin Shkreli after his securities fraud conviction was sold today for an undisclosed sum, though prosecutors say it was enough to fully satisfy the rest of what he owed on a $10 million forfeiture order he faced after his 2018 sentencing.
The entrepreneur known as âPharma Broâ once boasted that he paid $2.7 million in 2015 at auction for âOnce Upon a Time in Shaolin,â the 31-track double album the Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating. With todayâs sale of this one-of-a-kind album, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete,â Acting US Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis in Brooklyn said in a release.
Wu-Tang Clan album sale pays off fraudster Martin Shkreli’s court debt 27/07/2021, 10:37 pm
FILE – This April 21, 2013, file photo shows Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, aka RZA, left, and Clifford Smith, aka Method Man, of Wu-Tang Clan, right, performing at the second weekend of the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. An unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album forfeited by Martin Shkreli after his securities fraud conviction was sold Tuesday, July 27, 2021, for an undisclosed sum, though prosecutors say it was enough to fully satisfy the rest of what he owed on a $7.4 million forfeiture order he faced after his 2018 sentencing. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)
DOJ sells one-of-a-kind Wu-tang Clan album to cover âPharma Broâ Martin Shkreli debts
John Shearer/John Shearer/Invision/AP
FILE - In this April 21, 2013, file photo, members of the Wu-Tang Clan perform on stage in front of their band logo at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif. (John Shearer/Invision via AP)
and last updated 2021-07-27 23:29:21-04
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the sale of a one-of-a-kind album from hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The exclusive copy of the âOnce Upon a Time in Shaolinâ album belonged to convicted hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli and was forfeited when he was sentenced in 2018.
U.S. sells âPharma Broâ Shkreliâs unique Wu-Tang Clan album By Syndicated Content
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) â The U.S. government said it sold imprisoned drug company executive Martin Shkreliâs one-of-a-kind album by Wu-Tang Clan to pay off the $7.36 million he was ordered to forfeit after being convicted of fraud.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, who oversaw Shkreliâs 2017 trial in Brooklyn, prosecutors said the forfeiture amount has been fully satisfied following the sale of the album âOnce Upon a Time in Shaolinâ and other asset sales.
The sale price and buyer were not disclosed because of a confidentiality provision in the contract, prosecutors said.