Judge orders 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli to surrender all copies of rare Wu-Tang Clan album
- A New York federal judge ordered "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli to surrender any copy he retains of a rare Wu-Tang Clan album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin."
- Shkreli previously forfeited to the U.S. government after being convicted of securities fraud in 2017.
- The order came in response to a lawsuit by album owner PleasrDAO, which accused him of retaining digital copies of the hip-hop rarity and playing it online for listeners in violation of the forfeiture order.
A New York federal judge on Monday ordered notorious "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli to surrender any copy he retains of a rare Wu-Tang Clan album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin," which he previously forfeited to the U.S. government after being convicted of securities fraud in 2017.
The order came in response to a lawsuit by the one-of-a-kind album's owner, PleasrDAO, which accused him of retaining digital copies of the hip-hop rarity and playing it online for listeners in violation of the forfeiture order.
PleasrDAO, a Cayman Islands-based company, had paid $4.75 million for "Once Upon a Time Shaolin" in two separate transactions in 2021 and 2024.
Brooklyn federal court Judge Pamela Chen last month barred Shkreli, who was released from prison two years ago, from streaming or disseminating the album.
Chen on Friday held a hearing on a preliminary injunction request by PleasrDAO.
In a written order Monday, Chen wrote that the company had raised "sufficiently serious questions going to the merits of its claims" against Shkreli for violating the Defend Trade Secrets Act, misappropriation of trade secrets and unjust enrichment.
The order bars Shkreli from possessing the album or its contents, and that by Friday he turn over any copies of it that he now has.
Chen also