Convicted pharmacy executive Martin Shkreli responds to a Wu-Tang Clan's lawsuit Once upon a time in Shaolinarguing that it had the legal right to keep copies of the unique album even after turning it over to federal prosecutors.
The filing came a month after Shkreli was sued by PleasrDAO — a digital art collective that bought the album in 2021 after Shkreli was forced to forfeit it as part of his criminal case. The label is seeking an injunction barring him from leaking the album and forcing him to hand over any copies.
But in an opposition filing on Wednesday (July 24), Shkreli's lawyers argued that he had his rights when he made copies of the album before the seizure — and that he was not asked to turn over those copies to prosecutors.
“The defendant still has the right to use them to this day,” Shkreli's lawyers wrote.
PleasrDAO has argued that a leak of the famous secret album would “irreparably damage” its value. But Shkreli's lawyers say the feds didn't promise Pleasr they were buying the only copy that existed.
“Plaintiff was well aware that the purchase of assets from the company did not involve any promise or expectation of 'exclusivity' or 'uniqueness,'” Shkreli's lawyers wrote. “He purchased a copy of a musical work which he knew was not unique and cannot now claim that he is irreparably harmed by the existence of its non-uniqueness.”
PleasrDAO sued Shkreli last month over a potential leak of the album, accusing him of violating both the purchase agreement and the federal forfeiture order. They also accused him of violating the federal Trade Secrets Act, which protects valuable proprietary information from misappropriation.
The legendary Wu-Tang album was recorded in secret and released only once, on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. Although the band intended the odd embellishments as a protest against the commercialization of music, Shaolin later it became the ultimate commodity. In 2015, Shkreli — soon to become infamous as the man who deliberately raised the price of critical AIDS drugs — bought it at auction for $2 million.
When originally sold, Shaolin it came with hotly debated terms — namely that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103. But Shkreli's lawyers say the deal gave him the right to “copy or reproduce the work for private use . »
After Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he forfeited the album to federal prosecutors to help him pay his multimillion-dollar restitution sentence. Pleasr then bought the album from the government in 2021 for $4 million, and in 2024 acquired the copyright and other rights to the album for another $750,000.
In Wednesday's filing, Shkreli's lawyers argued that when the government sold the album, it specifically told Pleasr that it would not “assume” any of the promises or guarantees made in Shkreli's original deal with Wu-Tang — including of claims to the album's unique status.
“It would be fundamentally unfair for this court to restrict Shkreli from permitted use of the work after [government] He expressly disclaimed any warranties, described the assets as being sold 'as-is, where-is' and listed only physical items to be delivered upon sale of the assets,” his lawyers write.
A possible injunction hearing is set for next month. A representative for PleasrDAO's lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment.
