The universe has a way of righting obvious wrongs. Disgraced pharmaceutical hustler Martin Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, and the judge on the case came down hard on him. Shkreli has been ordered to forfeit $7.36 million is assets to the federal government as part of his sentence, and that includes a rare copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” and the Lil’ Wayne album “The Carter V.”
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said that in order to satisfy that award amount Shkreli — who was said to be completely cash-broke last year by his lawyer — must forfeit his interest in a set of “substitute” assets.
Those assets are: $5 million in cash in an E-Trade brokerage account that previously had secured his release bond; Shkreli’s stake in the drug company Vyera Pharmaceuticals; the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin”; the Lil’ Wayne album “The Carter V”; and a painting by Pablo Picasso.
Shkreli was convicted last summer of duping a group of investors in two hedge funds he ran by misleading them about the financial performance of their money in those funds. He also was convicted of fraud in connection with the manipulation of stock shares in another drug company he founded,
When Shkreli purchased the Wu-Tang album it led to a beef with Ghost Face Killer and Shkreli released a ridiculous video threatening to beat up Ghostface. Flip the page for that video.