Martin Shkreli Ordered To Hand Over All His Copies Of Wu-Tang Clan’s Rare Album

Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-one album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin went through some big changes this year. It was formerly in the hands of sole owner Martin Shkreli, but now belongs to the digital art company PleasrDAO. It will technically be released as partial NFT buys. Now, according to Billboard, the court has sided with Pleasr and ordered Shkreli to hand over any existing copies he has of the project. In 2021, authorities seized the LP to account for the former pharmacy executive’s $7.4 million judgement in a securities fraud case. But he kept livestreaming it and boasting about the extra copies that he made.

This move from the court is to preserve the rare Wu-Tang Clan album’s one-of-one status and to punish Martin Shkreli for violating the original purchase terms and forfeiture order. Authorities barred him from “possessing, using, disseminating, or selling any interest in the album.” Per court documents, this is the same for “its data and files or the contents of the Album, or in any way causing further damage to Plaintiff respecting the album.” Shkreli must “sequester and turn over all of his copies, in any form” by August 30. He has until September 30 to file an affidavit detailing the “information regarding alleged copies of ‘Once Upon a Time In Shaolin,’ people he might’ve given them to, and any money he might’ve made from distributing or playing the album.”

Wu-Tang Clan In 1997

Wu Tang Clan Once Upon A Time In Shaolin Album Martin Shkreli Turn Over Copies Court Hip Hop News — NEW YORK, NY – APRIL, 1997: (L-R) U-God, Method Man, Raekwon, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Masta Killa, RZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard of the American rap group Wu-Tang Clan pose for a portrait circa April, 1997 in New York, New York. (Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images)

In other Wu-Tang Clan news, here’s what Method Man had to say about OUATIS. “I thought it was some circus spectacle,” he told Vanity Fair. “I never really spoke to RZA about it. It’s an uncomfortable subject to most of the guys, so we don’t really discuss it too much. The process of the thing being made was never told to us. We were never told what it was. We were recording and being paid to do a certain amount of records.”

“[Cilvaringz] put them altogether into a compilation of Wu-Tang songs and marketed it as a Wu-Tang album,” Method Man continued. “A single copy of a Wu-Tang album. We all had a problem with it because that’s not how it was described to us.”

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