Martin Shkreli Has to Forfeit the Wu-Tang Album Because Justice Is Sweet

In ages past, men held on to trophies they deemed precious for fear of losing the status afforded to them by such gifts. Martin Shkreli has likely coveted the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin since he bought it for a reported $2 million in 2015, but that changes today. As CNBC reports, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto officially ordered Shkreli to forfeit $7.36 million in assets as part of his conviction for securities frauds (he’s currently in jail awaiting a ruling of up to 20 years in prison). Among those assets are Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, along with Lil Wayne’s much-delayed Tha Carter V and a Picasso painting (we’ll hopefully see soon whether those latter two are of similar quality to each other).

Federal prosecutors asked Matsumoto to seize the assets back in December, but the judge actually made those orders today. Court documents at the time said that the US federal government would own these albums after Shkreli forfeits them, so you can imagine there are probably some lawmakers celebrating right now by bumping these long-lost jams from the Wu and Wayne, although there is some debate over whether Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is even a Wu-Tang album in the first place. Even with authorship in question, we now at least only have the government to deal with if we really want to hear either of these albums. Better get those FOIA requests going if you want to hear that unreleased fire. Read more about Shkreli’s case here.