Aug. 27 (UPI) — A New York federal judge ordered Martin Shkreli to surrender any copies of the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin in response to a complaint from the record’s new owner.
Shkreli, known as “Pharma Bro,” was forced to forfeit the album to the federal government as part of his conviction on securities fraud in 2017 and its new owner, the Cayman Island-based company PleasrDAO, has accused Shkreli of retaining digital copies and even playing it online for some listeners.
PleasrDAO paid $4.75 million for the album and has asked U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Chen to order a preliminary injunction and for Shkreli to turn over all digital copies. Chen ordered him last month to stop streaming the album. She granted the request on Monday.
“This order is merely a preliminary measure entered by the court to maintain the perceived status quo before any discovery occurs,” Shkreli’s attorney Edward Paltzik said of Chen’s, according to CNBC. “The order has no bearing whatsoever on the final outcome of the case.”
Chen gave Shkreli until Friday to turn over his copies “in any form.” He will also have to file an affidavit by Sept. 30 detailing who he might have given copies of the album and any money he made from any transaction.
Shkreli purchased the physical album for $2 million at auction in 2015. He was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted on charges on charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme from 2009 to 2014 and bilked investors out of $11 million after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, jacked up the price of the HIV medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet.
