PleasrDAO sues Martin Shkreli over Wu-Tang Clan album rights
Martin Shkreli is being sued for sharing a digital copy of an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album.
Shkreli illegally shared a copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon A Time in Shaolin” even though he no longer owned it, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by PleasrDAO in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Rights to the album. According to legal filings, PleasrDAO purchased exclusive rights to the album’s audio tracks from Shkreli in 2021 for $4 million.
Shkreli, who gained notoriety nearly a decade ago by drastically raising the price of life-saving drugs, purchased Wu-Tang Clan’s album for about $2 million in 2015. Two years later, he was convicted in a securities fraud case involving: For his hedge fund, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $7 million. Shortly after receiving the order, Shkreli sold the extremely popular Wu-Tang album to PleasrDAO.
PleasrDAO and Shkreli did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, PleasrDAO, which describes itself as a collective focused on creating virtual experiences through “culturally significant media and materials,” planned to selectively share the album’s content after the record was purchased. But Shkreli’s continued distribution of unreleased Wu-Tang audio tracks has “diminished” the album’s value, causing “substantial financial and irreparable harm” to PleasrDAO, according to the lawsuit.
“Shkreli has demonstrated a total lack of respect for the integrity of the album and the conditions intended to ensure its confidentiality,” PleasrDAO said in its complaint.
PleasrDAO claimed that Shkreli shared at least 50 albums between 2022 and 2024. The former executive recently reportedly played an unreleased audio track from the album at an X Spaces event on June 9, according to the legal complaint.
According to legal filings, PleasrDAO has requested that all digital copies of the album in Shkreli’s possession be confiscated. The cryptocurrency group is also seeking financial compensation, the amount of which will be determined by a New York court.
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