Wu-Tang Clan Album Seized From Martin Shkreli Has Been Sold

NEW YORK, NY — There's a new owner of the most expensive music work ever sold. It's not yet known who that is.

The Wu-Tang Clan's one-of-a-kind album titled "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" was sold from the United States to an unnamed buyer to pay off the $7.4 million forfeiture money judgement issued in 2018 against Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager convicted of engaging in securities fraud schemes, Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Tuesday.

The buyer and official price weren't revealed as part of a confidentiality provision in the deal. Kasulis did say the album sale would take care of Shkreli's outstanding court debt.

Shkreli was ordered to give the album up as part of a forfeiture judgement in connection with his 2017 conviction on two counts of securities fraud and one count of securities fraud conspiracy for orchestrating a series of schemes to defraud investors of Retrophin, the biopharmaceutical company founded by Shkreli, Kasulis said.

“Through the diligent and persistent efforts of this office and its law enforcement partners, Shkreli has been held accountable and paid the price for lying and stealing from investors to enrich himself. With today’s sale of this one-of-a-kind album, his payment of the forfeiture is now complete,” Kasulis said in a statement.

The album is one-of-a-kind in that it is the only one made. Shkreli was the winning bidder for the album in a 2015 auction. He paid $2 million for it, the most money ever spent on a music album.

It includes a hand-carved nickel-silver box and a leather-bound manuscript containing lyrics and a certificate of authenticity, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. The DOJ said Shkreli tried to sell the album in an online auction after his conviction, but before the court-ordered forfeiture.

Before Shkreli's arrest and conviction, he became known for increasing the cost of the lifesaving drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent while he was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Kaiser Health News and others have reported.

Shkreli is serving a seven-year prison sentence.