Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli must turn over his copies of The Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album to comply with a preliminary injunction issued Friday morning by federal Judge Pamela Chen in an ongoing lawsuit, ArtNet reported.
The NFT collective that currently owns Shaolin claims in its lawsuit that Shkreli “improperly retained copies of data and files” from the album and plans to release them. Among other complaints, the group PleasrDAO alleges that this violated a court order to forfeit it to the US government in the aftermath of the 2017 securities fraud trial that put Shkreli in jail until 2022.
Shkreli played fast and loose with Wu-Tang’s purchase conditions that restricted him from commercially benefiting from the album until 2103, once listing it on eBay, as NME notes.
Here’s the judge’s order published by CourtListener:
... the Court issued a preliminary injunction as to Defendant Shkreli:
(1) enjoining him from possessing, using, disseminating, or selling any interests in the Album, including its data and files, or in any way causing further damage to Plaintiff respecting the Album through this conduct;
(2) ordering him to provide an inventory and accounting of the copies of the Album that he has retained and the individuals to whom he has distributed the data and files, and any attendant revenue;
and (3) ordering him to turn over to his counsel all recordings of the Album’s contents that Defendant possesses or controls.
The court also said Shkreli has until August 30th to file an affidavit saying he’s turned over all of his copies of the album and until September 30th to document the existence of any copies he’s made, who they may have been shared with, and any money that he may have made from the copies or playing the album for anyone.
Judge Chen previously issued a restraining order against Shkreli in June, requiring Shkreli to stop distributing the album and to appear in court later to explain why he shouldn’t be forced to give up all of his copies.
Update, August 26th: Added proposed preliminary order.