EXCLUSIVE: Martin Shkreli Still Screwing New Owner Of Wu-Tang’s One-Of-A-Kind Album
Martin Shkreli escaped court sanctions earlier this week in his ongoing legal fight with PleasrDAO, the crypto collective that now owns Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the ultra-rare Wu-Tang Clan album he controversially bought in 2015.
Judge Pamela K. Chen ruled that while Shkreli’s sluggish compliance with court orders had been frustrating and drawn out, his actions did not meet the legal bar for bad faith necessary to impose sanctions.
PleasrDAO had sought penalties, including attorney’s fees, after accusing Shkreli of delaying disclosures about how he distributed unauthorized copies of the one-of-a-kind album.
Shkreli’s legal troubles stem from allegations that he wrongfully leaked portions of the Wu-Tang project after selling it as part of a government asset seizure.
A court injunction required him to hand over all copies and fully disclose any previous unauthorized sharing, but filings show that he initially provided incomplete details, sparking contempt motions and a lengthy legal back-and-forth.
At a November 2024 hearing, Shkreli conceded that he had shared music from the Wu-Tang album with multiple people but failed to provide a comprehensive list of recipients.
He also acknowledged using social media and email to send files but admitted he had not thoroughly searched those platforms as required by the court.
Despite the delays and inconsistencies, Judge Chen ruled that his conduct didn’t justify sanctions, writing that standards for bad faith are high and penalties are reserved for “extreme cases.”
The saga of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin stretches back nearly a decade to when Wu-Tang Clan secretly recorded and produced the album over six years as a statement on art’s value in the streaming age.
Wu-Tang sold it in 2015 to Shkreli—then the widely criticized CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who had infamously jacked up the price of a life-saving drug—for $2 million under a contract barring public release for 88 years.
Shkreli, already reviled for his pharma dealings, made the album’s acquisition even more infamous by teasing snippets on social media and publicly flaunting his possession of it.
His legal downfall came two years later when he was convicted of securities fraud, leading the federal government to seize his assets, including the album In 2021, PleasrDAO purchased the record for an undisclosed sum, positioning it as an important cultural artifact.
But the group soon accused Shkreli of leaking parts of it in defiance of legal agreements, triggering the latest courtroom battle. Court records detail Shkreli’s repeated failures to fully account for where album copies had gone.
At one point, he blamed missing tracks on misplaced belongings and disorganization from his prison stint, though the court found those claims dubious.
Throughout the lawsuit, Shkreli’s responses were riddled with new discrepancies. By late 2024, he finally admitted that at least eight more people had received copies—contradicting his previous claims.
His last-minute compliance in February 2025 prevented him from facing penalties only after months of legal wrangling.
PleasrDAO argued that Shkreli had intentionally dragged his feet, noting his past boasts that he had leaked the album to as many as 50 people.
They pointed to social media posts where he distributed files to users who provided contact details. However, the judge ultimately ruled that his belated disclosures were sufficient to avoid sanctions.
While Shkreli sidestepped further punishment, this decision adds another chapter to the bizarre and drawn-out saga surrounding Hip-Hop’s most mysterious album and the legal battle to hold Martin Shkreli responsible for the leaks continues.