Feds want to take Martin Shkreli's $2 million Wu-Tang album

The federal government asked for the collector's album to be seized.
 By 
Patrick Kulp
 on 
Feds want to take Martin Shkreli's $2 million Wu-Tang album
Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Feds want to seize everything around Martin Shkreli.

Prosecutors asked a Brooklyn court on Friday to force the incarcerated "pharma bro" to forfeit some of his most valuable possessions, including the $2 million single-copy Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the unreleased Lil Wayne album Tha Carter V, a Picasso, and an antique World War II Enigma machine.

Shkreli, who gained notoriety when he spiked the price of a life-saving AIDS drug as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, was convicted in August of defrauding hedge fund investors in an incident unrelated to the pricing debacle. He's currently in jail as he awaits a sentencing in which he could see up to 20 years in prison.

The former pharmaceutical executive angered Wu-Tang fans everywhere when he bought what was marketed as the only existing copy of the legendary rap group's 2014 collector's album for $2 million and then refused to play it. He then went on to beef with various members of the group for months.

Shkreli tried to sell the album on Ebay in September and landed a winning bid of a little over $1 million. But that sale seems to have fallen through, and a lawyer associated with the Wu-Tang Clan has been trying to negotiate a deal to buy the album back since.

Now, interested parties may have to bid on it in a government auction. All told, prosecutors called for $7.4 million worth of assets to be seized, including Shkreli's $5 million bail.

Topics Music

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Patrick Kulp

Patrick Kulp is a Business Reporter at Mashable. Patrick covers digital advertising, online retail and the future of work. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a degree in political science and economics, he previously worked at the Pacific Coast Business Times.

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