RZA sued by Martin Shkreli over rare Wu-Tang Clan album
Martin Shkreli has filed a lawsuit against RZA over the Wu-Tang Clan album he once purchased for millions of dollars.
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin became the most expensive album ever sold in 2015 when the pharmaceutical executive bought the only copy.
Now, RZA has been added to a countersuit against PleasrDEO, the company that paid $4 million for the album after it was forfeited over Shkreli’s securities fraud conviction.
In a new court filing this week, Shkreli sued the Wu-Tang leader, claiming he and producer Cilvaringz wrongly reclaimed and resold the copyrights without his knowledge.
According to Rolling Stone, he alleges that PleasrDAO acquired the rights to exploit the album under an improper “duplicate sale.”
Shkreli claims he’s still the owner of half of the album’s copyrights, with the other half due to him 88 years after the purchase.
He says he paid $1.5 million for the only hard copy of the album through a complex deal that was “bifurcated” into tangible and intangible deliverables.
PleasrDAO’s lead lawyer blasted Shkreli’s claims, saying he was “under a court order to forfeit all of his rights in his criminal prosecution.”
RZA once revealed that he regretted selling the album. “It was hard for me to sell that album because I wanted it to be on my living room table,” he said. “When it was finally completed, and everything was sent out, I was like, ‘This would be great in the Wu mansion.’”
He continued, “Whoever comes by here can see this piece of art sitting in my living room. I argued with the people that invested money to get the project on its way, but they wanted [their investment] back.”