Martin Shkreli's Lil Wayne & Wu-Tang Clan Album May Be Seized By Federal Government

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Martin Shkreli (C), CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical, is brought out of 26 Federal Plaza by law enforcement officials after being arrested for securities fraud on December 17, 2015 in New York City. Shkreli gained notoriety earlier this year for raising the price of Daraprim, a medicine used to treat the parasitic condition of toxoplasmosis, from $13.50 to $750 though the arrest that happened early this morning does not involve that price hike.
Martin Shkreli's legal dramas continue.

For the past two years, Martin Shkreli has not only made himself a villain to the hip hop community but to most people at large. After trying to hike up the price of AIDS medication, he ended up copping the one of a kind Wu-Tang Clan Album Once Upon A Time In Shaolin and by luck, got his hands on Lil Wayne's highly-anticipated Tha Carter V. Today, reports are saying the federal government want him to hand both of those over.

In a report from TMZ, they say the government wants Shkreli to hand over the one-of-one Wu-Tang Clan album and Wayne's album. According to the documents they've obtained, the prosecutor's also seeking a handful of his assets that total to $7.4 million. They say the items authorities are trying to seize are $5 million in cash that is held in an E-Trade brokerage account, shares in Turing Pharmaceuticals, an Enigma machine as  well as a Picasso painting.

TMZ spoke to his attorney, Ben Brafman, who told them, "Our position is clear. 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."

The Wu-Tang album authorities are trying to get him to handover was actually sold back in September for $1M on eBay, half of what he actually acquired it for. In addition to that, Wayne and company were threatening to sue Shkreli if he leaked anymore music off Tha Carter V.

 

 


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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