Someone, somewhere bought the Wu Tang Clan’s famous one copy album at auction today from the US Government.
The album, called “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” was bought for $2 million in 2015 by the guy who jacked up pharma prices, Martin Shkreli. He quickly became the Most Hated Man in America. The government looked into him. He was convicted of fraud and went to jail.
Shkreli forfeited $7.4 million from his schemes. Now proceeds from the sale of “Shaolin” will go toward his debt. The Department of Justice won’t say who bought the album, how much they paid, or who they were. But you have to think they got at least $2 mil.
“Through the diligent and persistent efforts of this Office and its law enforcement partners, Shkreli has been held accountable and paid the price for lying and stealing from investors to enrich himself. With today’s sale of this one-of-a-kind album, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis.
Following a six-week trial in federal court in Brooklyn, Shkreli was convicted in August 2017 of two counts of securities fraud and one count of securities fraud conspiracy for orchestrating a series of schemes to defraud investors in the hedge funds and to manipulate the price and trading volume of Retrophin’s stock. United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto sentenced Shkreli to seven years’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years’ supervised release.
