‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli’s one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album sold by federal prosecutors to pay off his forfeiture judgment
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NEW YORK — The U.S. attorney’s office ain’t nothing to mess with.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors sold off “imprisoned Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s one-of-a-kind copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” as part of the convicted fraudster’s $7.4 million forfeiture judgment.
The feds declined Tuesday to provide a sale price or identify the buyer of the legendary album, purchased by Shkreli in 2015 for $2 million after the Staten Island rap collective put the pricey collectible up for auction.
“Shkreli has been held accountable and paid the price for lying and stealing from investors to enrich himself,” said Acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis. “With today’s sale, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete.”
The widely reviled Shkreli was convicted in August 2017 of defrauding investors in a pair of hedge funds, two years after becoming a national pariah for hiking the price of the medication Daraprim to $750 a tablet from $13.50 in 2015.
The unapologetic scammer later said he probably should have charged even more for the drug used to treat a potentially life-threatening parasitic infection.
Shkreli is serving a seven-year prison term, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In addition to the forfeiture money, Shkreli was ordered to pay a $75,000 fine along with $388,000 in restitution — and Brooklyn Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto imposed an order for the sale of the lone copy of the Wu-Tang album.
Before the auction won by Shkreli, the group described its effort as “both a work of art and an audio artifact.” The album, recorded by the rappers over several years, was never reproduced and came inside a hand-carved, nickel-silver box with a leather-bound book containing lyrics and a certificate of authenticity.
Wu-Tang Clan has attempted recently to reclaim the lone copy of its album, which under the terms of its auction cannot be reproduced or sold for 88 years.
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