American investor Martin Shkreli accused of copying and sharing one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album
American investor Martin Shkreli is facing a new lawsuit for allegedly retaining and sharing recordings from a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he was forced to sell following his 2017 conviction on fraud charges
NEW YORK (AP) — American investor Martin Shkreli is facing a new lawsuit for allegedly retaining and sharing recordings from a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he was forced to sell following his 2017 conviction on securities fraud charges.
The lawsuit was brought Monday by a cryptocurrency collective, PleasrDAO, which purchased the only known copy of the album from Shkreli for $4.75 million. The album, “Once Upon a Time is Shaolin,” has not been released to the public, functioning as a rare contemporary art piece since it was auctioned off by the famed hip-hop group in 2015.
In the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn, New York, federal court, PleasrDAO accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies of the album in violation of their deal and disseminating them widely among his social media followers.
They point to his recent comments on social media boasting of sharing the digital recordings with “thousands of people.” Over the weekend, Shkreli played portions of the album during a livestream he hosted on X, which he called a “Wu tang official listening party,” according to the lawsuit.
