Martin Shkreli is being sued for allegedly sharing digital copies of an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album after forfeiting the rights to it.
A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Monday by PleasrDAO claims that Shkreli illegally shared copies of "Once Upon A Time in Shaolin" by the Wu-Tang Clan, even though he no longer owned the rights to the album. PleasrDAO purchased exclusive rights to the album’s audio tracks from Shkreli for $4 million in 2021, it said in a legal filing.
Shkreli became notorious in 2015 for significantly increasing the price of the life-saving medication Daraprim. In 2017, he was found guilty of securities fraud associated with his hedge fund and was sentenced to five years in prison. He later sold the album, which he had purchased in 2015 for $2 million, in order to help pay off a $7.4 million forfeiture order.
Neither PleasrDAO nor Shkreli immediately replied to The Block's request for comment.
PleasrDAO, which bills itself as a collective focused on creating virtual experiences with “culturally significant media and materials,” planned to commercialize the album after buying it, according to the lawsuit. However, Shkreli’s continued distribution of the unreleased Wu-Tang audio tracks has “diminished” the album's value, inflicting “significant monetary and irreparable harm” upon PleasrDAO.
“Shkreli has shown a complete lack of respect for the integrity of the Album and the conditions in place to ensure its secrecy,” PleasrDAO said in the legal complaint.
PleasrDAO alleged that Shkreli shared at least 50 copies of the album between 2022 and 2024. More recently, the former executive also allegedly played unreleased audio tracks from the album during an X Spaces event on June 9, according to the legal complaint.
PleasrDAO has requested the seizure of any digital copies of the album that remain in Shkreli's possession, a legal filing shows. The crypto collective is also seeking financial compensation, the amount of which will be determined by a court in New York.