Martin Shkreli is set to testify about the amount of copies of Wu-Tang Clan‘s rare ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ album that could be in circulation.
- READ MORE: Five things we learned from our ‘In Conversation’ video chat with RZA
The former hedge fund manager and ‘pharma-bro’, who bought the sole copy of the record back in 2015 for $2million (£1.4m), was sued by PleasrDAO for illegally livestreaming the album last June. He bought the album under a legal agreement stipulating that the album could not be commercially exploited until 2103, though it could be played at listening parties.
Shkreli played clips of the album during a livestream in 2017 despite the restrictions, then tried to sell the album on eBay – and received an offer for $1.2million (£940,000), but the sale was never completed. He was then forced to hand over the album following his conviction for securities fraud, when $7.4million (£5.8m) worth of assets were seized by a federal court.
From there, the US Department of Justice sold it to Pleasr for $4million (£3.1m) in 2021, in a bid to cover Shkreli’s debts. The collective said at the time that it would find a way to make it accessible to fans and the rest of the world.
According to the lawsuit brought by PleasrDAO (filed June 10 in a Brooklyn federal court), Shkreli violated conditions of his legal agreement by making copies of the album and playing it publicly. Shkreli last played the album on X the day before the lawsuit. He was then ordered by the presiding judge to surrender any existing copies he may have in his possession.
In a sworn statement on September 30, Shkreli said that he had since turned over all of the copies in his possession, but it is still “highly likely” that there are more out there due to him distributing it.
Now, Shkreli will return to court on November 5 to testify about the number of copies of the album he allegedly made and distributed. Per Rolling Stone, the order was handed down last Friday (October 11) after PleasrDAO’s lawyers took issue with his September 30 statement – claiming that it “raises doubts” on whether he “made a good faith effort to comply” in a letter to the presiding judge, Judge Pamela K. Chen.
Shkreli was then ordered by Chen to appear in court to “resolve the deficiencies” in his affidavits and have him “testify under oath regarding the copying and distribution of the Album’s tracks.”
Recorded in secret between 2006 and 2013, ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ became the most valuable album ever made, and reportedly features contributions from all surviving members of Wu-Tang Clan, as well as two guest appearances from Cher. The unique copy was housed in a silver, jewel-encrusted box, alongside leather-bound liner notes and a wax seal of the Wu-Tang Clan logo.
No digital downloads or streams were made available, and after pressing the CD, the Clan stored it in a high-security vault at the Royal Mansour Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco prior to its auction.
The 88-year restriction on the LP was chosen as there were eight original members of Wu-Tang Clan, because the numbers of the year 2015 added to eight, and because the number rotated made the symbol for infinity. The album was reportedly played to the public for the first time at an art gallery in Tasmania back in June.
