The saga continues.
On Friday it was reported that Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive who was convicted on three counts of securities fraud in August, might have to hand over his copies of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and Lil Wayne’s The Carter V as part of the $7.4 million the government is seeking in restitution.
#BREAKING the government wants Martin Shkreli to hand over the Wu Tang album in forfeiture (!!!) pic.twitter.com/bOzWjlLeOx
— David Mack (@davidmackau) December 1, 2017
Shkreli reportedly bought the sole copy of the album in 2015 and immediately drew criticism for his smug attitude about it. In 2016 he tried to diss Ghostface Killah. A dismissed juror in his trial revealed their bias by claiming Shkreli “disrespected the Wu-Tang Clan.”
Shkreli claimed last December that he’d obtained Lil Wayne’s The Carter V, and leaked tracks online.
Once Upon a Time‘s authenticity and value is murky; in September Shkreli allegedly put the album up for sale on eBay, but it doesn’t appear that the sale was finalized. That same week, he urged his Facebook followers to steal Hillary Clinton’s hair on her book tour. His bail was quickly revoked and he was returned to federal custody.
The government could also seize a Picasso and a World War II-era Enigma code-breaking machine.
H/T Reuters