NEW YORK — American investor Martin Shkreli is facing a new lawsuit for allegedly withholding and sharing recordings from a Wu-Tang Clan one-off album that he was forced to sell following his 2017 conviction for securities fraud charges.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday by a cryptocurrency collective, PleasrDAO, which purchased the only known copy of Shkreli’s album for $4.75 million. The album, “Once Upon a Time is Shaolin”, has not been released to the public, functioning as a rare work of contemporary art since it was auctioned by the famous hip-hop group in 2015.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, PleasrDAO accused Shkreli of withholding digital copies of the album, in violation of their agreement, and of circulating them widely among his social media followers.
They point to his recent comments on social media, boasting about sharing the digital recordings with “thousands of people.” Over the weekend, Shkreli played portions of the album during a live stream he hosted on X, which he called an “official Wu tang listening party,” according to the lawsuit.
Shkreli did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit marks the latest twist for an unusual album created in protest against the devaluation of music in the streaming era but bought at auction by Shkreli, a man known for raising the price of a life-saving drug and his “Pharma Bro.” person.
Shkreli was later forced to sell the album – packaged in a handcrafted silver and nickel box and including a 174-page book wrapped in leather – following his conviction on security fraud charges.
PleasrDAO said it purchased the physical copy of the album and its digital rights in two transactions, in 2021 and 2024. They said they understood that Shkreli had destroyed any trace of the album’s files.
“Any release of the Album’s music to the general public greatly diminishes and/or destroys the value of the Album and significantly harms PleasrDAO’s reputation and ability to commercially exploit the Album,” the lawsuit states.
Last month, the album was directed to the Australian Museum of Old and New Art, who said they planned to hold private listening sessions with selected tracks from the album starting this week.
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