Martin Shkreli Sued for Copying and Enjoying Wu-Tang Clan Album With out Permission

PleasrDAO, the digital artwork collective that owns the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album As soon as Upon a Time in Shaolin, has sued the album’s earlier proprietor, disgraced former pharmaceutical government, Martin Shkreli, for copying the album and enjoying it for on-line audiences with out permission.

In its lawsuit—filed on June 10 in a Brooklyn federal court docket and considered by Pitchfork—PleasrDAO outlines the largely public historical past of As soon as Upon a Time in Shaolin. Shkreli purchased the album in 2015 for $2 million. That very same yr, he was arrested, and he was convicted, in 2017, of committing securities fraud. Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in federal jail and ordered to forfeit practically $7.4 million in property, together with the Wu-Tang Clan album. Shkreli was launched from jail in 2022, however, whereas he was incarcerated, PleasrDAO purchased As soon as Upon a Time in Shaolin for $4 million.

Based on the lawsuit, Shkreli continues to be beholden to sure elements of the forfeiture order, together with the requirement that he “take[s] all cheap steps, and bear all prices vital, to make sure that all of the Substitute Property [i.e., Once Upon a Time in Shaolin] are preserved and maintained in good and marketable situation, and should not broken, diluted or diminished in worth on account of any actions taken or not taken by the defendant and his representatives.”

Shkreli, the lawsuit argues, has violated the forfeiture order by making copies of the album and enjoying it publicly—one thing he’s readily admitted to have executed, together with as not too long ago because the day earlier than the lawsuit was filed when he posted on X, “nicely @pleasrdao blocked me from their account so i believe i’ll play the album on areas now.”

Within the lawsuit, PleasrDAO states, “Any dissemination of the Album’s music to most people enormously diminishes and/or destroys the Album’s worth, and considerably damages PleasrDAO’s popularity and skill to commercially exploit the Album.”

As well as, PleasrDAO argues that Shkreli has gained his personal unjust enrichment via the promotion of his allegedly illicit Wu-Tang Clan music recordsdata.

PleasrDAO and its lawyer are asking for a list of the recordsdata that Shkreli has, the seizure of his copies, damages, and extra.

In varied posts on X, Shkreli has mocked PleasrDAO for suing him and defended his actions.

Starting on Saturday, As soon as Upon a Time in Shaolin will likely be performed publicly for an exhibition at Australia’s Museum of Outdated and New Artwork (MONA). A contract stipulates that the album can’t be commercially exploited till 2109, however it may be performed at non-public listening occasions corresponding to MONA’s.