NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, who has been convicted of fraud, has been ordered to hand over his one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album as part of an upcoming criminal sentence, a judge ruled Monday.
Shkreli, a hedge fund manager, was convicted last year of misleading investors about the financial performance of their money in two funds. He was also convicted of fraud for manipulating stock shares in Retrophin, a drug company he founded. A judge ruled that Shkreli’s activities resulted in $10.4 million in lost revenue for his clients. Shkreli argued that none of the investors lost money and some may have had financial gains. He faces 20 years in jail although his attorneys are arguing for 12 to 18 months.
Shkreli and the public began their mutual dislike after Shkreli raised the price of the drug Thiola, which treats the disease cystinuria and quickly followed that by buying the patent for the drug Daraprim, which treats an AIDS-related disease, and hiked the price from $13.50 to $750, according to the Guardian. Shkreli argued that the hike assisted in drug research but the media had already had a public hanging. All of this, after Shkreli’s conviction, was followed by a Facebook request for a lock of Hilary Clinton’s hair that led to a judge rescinding Shkreli’s bail.
Amid all of this, Wu-Tang announced it would sell one copy, and one copy only, of its double album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin to the highest bidder, and Shkreli won that 2015 auction, taking the album for $2 million. Judge Kiyo Matsumoto has ordered the apparently cash-poor Shkreli to forfeit $7.36 million to the federal court as part of the upcoming sentencing. The substitute assets include the album along with $5 million in cash from an E-Trade brokerage account and his stake in Vyera Pharmaceuticals (originally known as Turing Pharmaceuticals), according to CNBC.
The album was originally pressed in a single copy and placed in a silver box, with the stipulation that the buyer could not release the album for 88 years (Wu-Tang’s Method Man has called that stipulation “stupid”). Shkreli sold the album on eBay for more than $1 million but the sale never went through.
“I didn’t like the idea of him putting it on eBay,” Wu producer RZA told the Guardian. “I think he could have got more than what he paid.”
Shkreli’s attorney Benjamin Brafman has claimed the album is “probably worthless.”
Shkreli has also been ordered to turn over the Lil’ Wayne album The Carter V and a Pablo Picasso painting, according to CNBC.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 9.
