Once Upon A Time In Shaolin
Amid a federal lawsuit, a judge says Martin Shkreli must personally go to court and testify under oath about the extent to which he copied and shared Wu-Tang Clanâs rare album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.
In a brief ruling Friday (Oct. 11), Judge Pamela K. Chen scheduled a hearing for next month to resolve the issue of what exactly Shkreli did with Once Upon, an ultra-rare Wu-Tang record that he once owned but was forced to forfeit to federal prosecutors after he was convicted of securities fraud.
The judge said the ruling was designed to âresolve the deficienciesâ in Shkreliâs previous sworn statements about the fate of the album, in which the pharma exec said he wasnât sure who might still have copies.
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âDefendant Shkreli will be called upon to testify under oath regarding the copying and distribution of the albumâs tracks,â the judge wrote. âBoth parties will be permitted to question defendant Shkreli on these issues.â
Wu-Tangâs fabled album was recorded in secret and published just once, on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. In addition to the bizarre trappings, Once Upon came with strict legal stipulations â namely, that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103.
In 2015, Shkreli â soon to become infamous as the man who intentionally spiked the price of crucial AIDS medications â bought Once Upon at auction for $2 million. But after he was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he forfeited it to federal prosecutors to help pay his multi-million dollar restitution sentence. PleasrDAO, a collective of early NFT collectors and digital artists, then bought the album from the government in 2021 for $4 million, and in 2024 acquired the copyrights and other rights for another $750,000.
Amid recent efforts to monetize Once Upon, Pleasr sued Shkreli in June after he made threats to release the album publicly and destroy the exclusivity that the company had purchased. The lawsuit accused him of both breaching the federal forfeiture order and violating federal trade secrets law, which protects valuable proprietary information from misappropriation.
In August, Judge Chen granted Pleasr a preliminary injunction requiring Shkreli to hand over any copies of Once Upon that were still in his possession. Shkreliâs attorneys had argued he had the right to create private copies when he owned the album and could retain them even after he forfeited the original copy, but the judge rejected that argument.
Last month, Shkreli told the judge he had âsearched my devices, electronic accounts, and other personal effectsâ and handed over any copies he owned. He swore that he had done so âunder penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America.â
But he also said he didnât know exactly who he had shared it with, and that some of them probably still have copies.
âBecause I shared the musical work several times several years ago, I cannot recall each and every time that I have shared the musical work,â he told the judge. âIt is possible, and indeed I find it highly likely, that one of the many people who viewed, heard, or otherwise accessed the musical work via my social media recorded the musical work and retains a copy of the same.â
Attorneys for Pleasr werenât pleased. In a response filing days later, they told the judge that Shkreliâs disclosure âfalls shortâ of the judgeâs requirements and âraises doubts as to whether Defendant has, in fact, made a good faith effort to comply.â
On Friday, Judge Chen responded with her order requiring Shkreli to appear in court. His attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday (Oct. 14).
Convicted pharma executive Martin Shkreli is firing back in a lawsuit over Wu-Tang Clanâs Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, arguing he had a legal right to retain copies of the one-of-a-kind album even after he handed it over to federal prosecutors.
The filing came a month after Shkreli was sued by PleasrDAO â a digital art collective that bought the album in 2021 after Shkreli was forced to forfeit it as part of his criminal case. The company is seeking an injunction barring him from leaking the album and forcing him to turn over any copies.
But in an opposition filing on Wednesday (July 24), Shkreliâs attorneys argued that he had been well within his rights when he made copies of the album before the forfeiture â and that he had not been required to turn those copies over to prosecutors.
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âDefendant continues to have the right to use them to this day,â Shkreliâs attorneys write.
PleasrDAO has argued a leak of the famously secret album would âirreparably harmâ its value. But Shkreliâs attorneys say the feds made no promises to Pleasr that they were buying the only copy in existence.
âPlaintiff was well aware that its purchase of assets from did not include any promise or expectation of âexclusivityâ or âuniqueness,ââ Shkreliâs lawyers write. âIt bought a copy of a musical work that it knew was not unique, and cannot now claim to be irreparably harmed by the existence of its non-uniqueness.â
PleasrDAO sued Shkreli last month over the potential leak of the album, accusing him of violating both their purchase agreement and the federal forfeiture order. They also accused him of violating federal trade secrets law, which protects valuable proprietary information from misappropriation.
Wu-Tangâs legendary album was recorded in secret and published just once, on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. Though the group intended the bizarre trappings as a protest against the commodification of music, Shaolin later became the ultimate commodity. In 2015, Shkreli â soon to become infamous as the man who intentionally spiked the price of crucial AIDS medications â bought it at auction for $2 million.
When it was initially sold, Shaolin came with much-discussed stipulations â namely, that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103. But Shkreliâs lawyers say the deal granted him the right to âduplicate or replicate the work for private use.â
After Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he forfeited the album to federal prosecutors to help pay his multi-million dollar restitution sentence. Pleasr then bought the album from the government in 2021 for $4 million, and in 2024 acquired the copyrights and other rights to the album for another $750,000.
In Wednesdayâs filing, Shkreliâs lawyers argued that when the government sold the album, it expressly told Pleasr that it would not âassumeâ any of the promises or guarantees that had been made in Shkreliâs original deal with Wu-Tang â including the claims about the albumâs one-of-a-kind status.
âIt would be fundamentally unfair for this court to restrict Shkreli from his permitted use of the work after the [government] explicitly disclaimed any warranties, described the assets as being sold âAs-Is, Where-Is,â and listed only physical objects to be delivered on the sale of the assets,â his lawyers write.
A hearing on the potential injunction is set for next month. A rep for PleasrDAOâs attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment.

The blockchain group that sued Martin Shkreli to stop him from releasing Wu-Tang Clanâs Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is itself now selling the famed one-of-a-kind album to the public. But the deal comes with one small catch: buyers canât actually listen to most of it.
Days after suing the infamous Pharma Bro, PleasrDAO announced Thursday (June 13) that Shaolin was âfinally being offered to the publicâ for just $1 â something of a shocking offer considering the albumâs infamous contractual restrictions that say it cannot be widely released until the year 2103.
But the fine print was slightly less exciting: Buyers will only receive an âencryptedâ version of Shaolin that they cannot actually listen to. The deal will instead unlock exclusive access to a five-minute audio âsamplerâ composed of pieces of five tracks; the rest of the album will remain sealed.
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In a phone interview with Billboard on Thursday, members of PleasrDAO confirmed those limitations: âWhat people are being offered is the ability to own the encrypted album that they cannot listen to,â said Pleasrâs Leighton Cusack. âThat will immediately unlock a never-heard-before sampler from the album created by the co-producer of the album.â
Rather than the limitations, Pleasr stressed the other unique element of its sale: Every time someone buys the album, the group says it will reduce the waiting period for the full albumâs release by 88 seconds. âIt creates this ability for people to decide how much they value music and if they want to have this music released faster or not,â Cusack said.
The sale of any amount of Shaolin, an album famous (and expensive) for its exclusivity, raises big questions. Even if Pleasrâs sale only allows buyers to hear five minutes of the albumâs material, wouldnât the widespread digital release flout Wu-Tangâs famed restrictions? How is it possible?
One possibility is that Pleasr, which bought the album from federal prosecutors after Shkreli forfeited it as part of his 2017 securities fraud convictions, was never subject to those same crazy restrictions in the first place. Another explanation could be that the people who imposed those rules â Wu-Tang rapper RZA and producer Cilvaringz â consented to the project. In social media posts, Pleasr said it had been âworking with the original artists and producerâ on the sale, suggesting Wu-Tang gave a green light to the project.
Reps for the Wu-Tang Clan did not return requests for comment on their involvement in the project. A press release from Pleasr on Thursday included a quote from RZA and Cilvaringz, but it was excerpted from a statement the duo had released a decade ago.
When asked directly if Shaolinâs stipulations were still in effect, or if the sale complied with those requirements, Pleasr representative Camilla McFarland declined to go deep into the details: âWe canât necessarily discuss the specifics of those agreements and where that all stands, but we can assure you that all of our activities and releases are fully compliant with the consent and blessing of artists and right holders involved,â she said.
Wu-Tangâs legendary album was recorded in secret and published just once, on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. Though the group intended the bizarre trappings as a protest against the commodification of music, Shaolin later became the ultimate commodity. In 2015, Shkreli â already infamous as the man who intentionally spiked the price of crucial AIDS medications â bought it at auction for $2 million.
After Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he forfeited the album to federal prosecutors to help pay his multi-million dollar restitution sentence. Pleasr then bought the album from the government in 2021 for $4 million, and in 2024 acquired the copyrights and other rights to the album for another $750,000.
When it was initially sold, Shaolin came with much-discussed stipulations â namely, that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103. Though the deal did permit for-profit listening events at museums and other small venues, it strictly forbade duplicating or otherwise exploiting Shaolin âfor any commercial or other non-commercial purposes by any means today known or that come to be known during said time period.â
While Shkreli was certainly bound by those terms, itâs less clear if Pleasr was subjected to them when it purchased the album from prosecutors. The original 2015 deal contained a specific provision that, in the event the album was re-sold, the same kooky restrictions must be passed along to the new buyer. But itâs unclear if that requirement survived the album being forfeited as part of a criminal case.
Until Thursdayâs digital sale, Pleasrâs use of the album had seemingly stayed within the bounds of the Wu-Tangâs restrictions, with only a series of small in-person events. Last month, the group announced an exhibit at an Australian museum, where fans would be able to âexperienceâ certain songs. And this past weekend, it held a private listening event at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in New York City.
But the new sale would appear to clearly exceed those original rules. Copying the original CD into a digital format and then selling copies across the internet would hardly seem to fit the contractâs original approved venues: âBuyerâs home, museums, art galleries, restaurants, bars, exhibition spaces, or other similar spaces not customarily used as venues for large musical concerts.â
One obvious way for Pleasr to avoid the restrictions would be for the selling party that reached the deal with Shkreli to simply waive their rights to enforce the contract. In a copy of the original agreement attached to the recent lawsuit, the deal was signed by RZA (Robert Diggs) as the founder/chief executive of Wu-Tang Productions, Inc., and by Cilvaringz (Tarik Azzougarh).
When asked if such consent had been granted, Pleasrâs McFarland said: âAt the end of the day, Iâll let [RZA] comment on any of that. But of course, weâve been working with them in order to be able to bring this to life.â
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A new lawsuit claims that convicted executive Martin Shkreli copied and shared a rare album from the Wu-Tang Clan bought by an art collective, violating their deal.
On Monday (June 10), a lawsuit was filed against former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli aka âPharma Broâ in a Brooklyn, New York, court by digital art collective PleasrDAO. The group claims that Shkreli has violated the deal where they purchased the rare Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin from him by retaining copies of the album and sharing it with his followers on social media, alleging that heâs done so since his release from prison in May 2022.
âAny dissemination of the Albumâs music to the general public greatly diminishes and/or destroys the Albumâs value, and significantly damages PleasrDAOâs reputation and ability to commercially exploit the Album,â the filing reads. PleasrDAO pointed to recent comments made by Shkreli in posts on social media, particularly on X, formerly Twitter. âI was playing it on YouTube the other night even though somebody paid $4m for it,â one post reads.
The collective also claims that he played parts of the album in a âWu-Tang official listening party,â in another post on Sunday (June 9). PleasrDAO claimed that they completed the purchase of the physical copy and the digital rights of Once Upon a Time In Shaolin in 2021 and 2024 in two separate deals. Shkreli was forced to sell the album, which he acquired in auction in 2015 for $2 million to pay off a $7.4 million order of forfeiture after his conviction in 2017 for scheming to defraud investors as a drug manufacturer and defrauding hedge fund investors. Shkreli became notorious for hiking the price of Daraprim, the drug his Turing Pharmaceuticals manufactured, from $17.50 per tablet to an astronomical $750 per tablet.
U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Chen issued a temporary restraining order against Shkreli on Tuesday (June 11), blocking him from sharing the album and stating the suit âis likely to succeed on the meritsâ leading to a possible injunction and seizure of Shkreliâs copies. The rare Once Upon a Time In Shaolin album is currently set to be on display at the Museum of Old and New Art in Australia, which is planning to hold private listening sessions featuring songs from the album this week. Shkreli has so far been defiant online, taunting them in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on the same day and retweeting his followers who joined in the derision.
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