U.S. government sells one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album to pay off Martin Shkreli's debt

Martin Shkreli.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Wu-Tang isn't just for the children — it's also for the filthy rich.

In 2015, former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli purchased at auction the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $2 million. Shkreli, who earned the nickname "Pharma Bro" after he hiked the price of an anti-parasitic drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill, had to forfeit the album in 2017, after he was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.