Martin Shkreli sued for copying & playing forefeited Wu-Tang Clan record

Disgraced “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli was forced to forfeit his one-of-a-kind copy of Wu-Tang Clan‘s Once Upon A Time in Shaolin after being found guilty of securities fraud in 2017; it was sold to an undisclosed buyer in 2021, and acquired by cryptocurrency collective PleasrDAO later that year. If you thought Shkreli’s part in the story of Shaolin was now over, though, you are mistaken; PleasrDAO has now sued Shkreli. In a lawsuit filed on Monday (6/10) in Brooklyn federal court and viewed by Pitchfork, PleasrDAO writes that Skhreli “improperly retained copies of the data and files at the time of the forfeiture and has released and/or intends to release them to the public. Such actions would cause PleasrDAO to incur significant monetary and irreparable harm.”

PleasrDAO go on to claim in the suit that Shkreli has been hosting livestreams on various social media platforms since being released from prison, where he engages in “online activities such as, virtual reality computer games, and attempts to meet women through online dating”… and talking about his hidden copies of Shaolin, not to mention playing them for people, something he’s also admitted to publicly.

On one of those livestreams, on June 22, 2022, PleasrDAO write that Shkreli said, “Of course I made MP3 copies, they’re like hidden in safes all around the world… I’m not stupid. I don’t buy something for two million dollars just so I can keep one copy.”

The suit goes on to detail several other instances where PleasrDAO says Shkreli either discussed still having the album (including a podcast where he reportedly asked the interviewer, “do you know how many blowjobs that album got me? You think I didn’t make a fucking copy of it? Are you joking?” On the same podcast, he reportedly claimed “thousands of people” had heard it or played it for people.

PleasrDAO are requesting an inventory of files and copies of the album Shkreli still has and who he distributed them to, the seizure of said copies, and monetary damages.

On Twitter, PleasrDAO wrote, “Our master plan is to release the music to the public in a way that honors the Wu-Tang Clan and gets them paid while circumventing the streaming oligopoly; every action we are taking is in service of that mission.” Shkreli had a few things to say in response:

He also said:

Meanwhile, the album is set to be played at an art exhibit in Tasmania later this month.