He’s already known as the “most hated man in America”, but now another chapter is being added into the story of Martin Shkreli, with US prosecutors demanding the former pharmaceutical CEO hand over his one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, amongst other items in his collection.
If you’ve been following Martin Shkreli’s story over the years, you’d already be aware of how the 34-year-old initially made headlines for hiking the price of Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug used for treating parasitic infections, from $13.50 to $750 a tablet. Soon enough though, he became rather infamous amongst music fans for purchasing the sole copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon A Time In Shaolin for $2 million, and refusing to let others hear it.
Back in September, Shkreli tried to sell the record on eBay, of all places, just before it was hinted by members of the Wu-Tang Clan that the album he purchased might actually be a fake. By the time that the bidding for the album had ended at just over $1 million, Shkreli had been imprisoned for making threatening remarks towards Hilary Clinton. These threats were seen as a breach of his bail conditions, with Shkreli having been convicted of securities fraud one month earlier.
Now, as Pitchfork reports, with Shkreli facing up to 20 years in prison, US federal prosecutors are seeking $7.4 million in assets from the disgraced CEO.
According to court documents obtained by Pitchfork, a list of “substitute assets” has been outlined, with which Shkreli can use to pay this amount. Amongst the assets listed are the infamous Wu-Tang Clan album, in addition to two discs of material that reportedly makes up Lil Wayne’s long-awaited Tha Carter V album – something which has been met with skepticism from those within the hip-hop world.
The Sydney Morning Herald notes that other assets in Shkreli’s possession include $5 million in cash, a Picasso painting, and an Enigma machine, a World War II-era codebreaking device used against Nazi Germany. Despite this request from the US Department of Justice, Shkreli’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, told TMZ that “forfeiture of any assets is not an appropriate remedy,” so we might have to wait and see if he does indeed have to cough up these valuables.
At this stage, neither Wu-Tang Clan or Lil Wayne have commented on the news of Shkreli potentially having to give up their records, but considering Wu-Tang’s disdain for the former CEO, and the fact they included the line “My price hiking like the pills Martin Shkreli sell” on their most recent album, it’s hard to say whether they’d be too disappointed with this news.
Check out Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Lesson Learn’d’:
