‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Forced To Hand Over Wu-Tang Clan Album In Court

Martin Shkreli, who picked up the moniker “Pharma Bro” because of the high price at which he marketed a life-saving AIDS medication Daraprim, is being forced to hand over precious items in court.

MARTIN SHKRELI FORCED TO SELL WU TANG CLAN ALBUM

Federal prosecutors are asking for a forfeiture of $7.36 million they say Shkreli earned after committing securities fraud. The court is asking the already jailed Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO to turn over substitute assets, which would include a single-copy album by the Wu Tang Clan called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, for which Shkreli paid $2 million.

Prosecutors are also asking for Shkreli’s shares of Turing Pharmaceuticals, $5 million in cash that was held in an E*Trade account, his Lil Wayne album Tha Carter V, a Picasso painting, and an Enigma machine.

The $7.36 million was a calculated amount, and “represents a conservative computation of the proceeds Shkreli personally obtained as a result of his three different securities fraud crimes of conviction,” according to Judge Kiyo Matsumoto. Among the calculations was $3 million for schemes at hedge fund MSMB Capital, $3.4 million from MSMB Healthcare, and $960,000 on conspiracy to commit securities fraud at his biotech company Retrophin.

Shrkreli was convicted in August on two counts of securities fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He was found guilty on those and five other counts. “Our position is clear,” said Shkreli’s attorney Ben Brafman on Friday. “None of the investors lost any money and Martin did not personally benefit from any of the counts of conviction. Accordingly, forfeiture of any assets is not an appropriate remedy… [We will] vigorously oppose the government motion.”

After his conviction, Shkreli put the Wu Tang Clan album up for sale on eBay, and it has already received bids for more than $1 million.