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Unique Wu-Tang Clan Album Auctioned
During 2017, the former Turing Pharmaceuticals executive Martin Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in the Brooklyn Federal District Court. Shkreli gained significant attention a couple of years prior by raising the price of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Following his trial, he faced a $7.4 million forfeiture, a $750,000 fine, and seven years imprisonment. Surprisingly, this is not the main focus of the current narrative.
The noteworthy part revolves around the Department of Justice’s response to Shkreli’s forfeiture. Despite his wealthy status at the time, he couldn’t afford the $7.4 million upfront, prompting the DOJ to confiscate numerous valuable possessions from his assets, including the sole existing copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” album.
There exists only one edition of this album; it is secured in a meticulously crafted nickel-silver box, featuring a leather-bound manuscript with lyrics and an authenticity certificate. This exclusive release concept was adopted to make the album, as described in a former press statement, “both a piece of art and an auditory relic.” The Wu-Tang Clan members aimed to “present a form of art that differs from anything previously seen in the realm of contemporary music,” according to Robert “RZA” Diggs in a 2014 interview with Forbes.
A unique album by the Wu-Tang Clan, bought by Martin Shkreli for $2 million at auction, has been traded by the U.S. to settle the debt owed by the disgraced pharmaceutical figure to the government. https://t.co/2Togwkqmuw
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 27, 2021
Shkreli acquired the album in 2015 for approximately $2 million and had it confiscated by the DOJ in 2018. Recently, a buyer was found for the album, and the proceeds will be directed towards Shkreli’s outstanding obligations. The purchaser’s identity and the transaction amount remain undisclosed, but it’s certain that the buyer paid a substantial sum for it.
“Shkreli has been held responsible and faced the consequences of deceiving and stealing from investors for self-gain,” stated Jacquelyn Kasulis, the acting US attorney, in a press release issued on Tuesday.
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