To say that it’s been a tough couple of months for “Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli would be an understatement. Or a cause for celebration, depending on which side you stand concerning the embattled pharmaceutical executive.
Just yesterday, Shkreli had his $5 million bail unceremoniously revoked by a Brooklyn judge, and was sent to prison. The reason? He egged on his thousands of Facebook followers to assault Hillary Clinton. This, after being convicted of securities fraud back in August, and basically, becoming public punching bag No. 1.
As the story goes, Shkreli infamously raised the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,000 percent in 2015, only to be dragged like Hector through the streets of public opinion. But none of the words or even his August conviction seemed to faze him. He seemed to delight in it all.
And then, of course, there was his pride and joy: the lone copy of an unreleased, long mythologized album by ’90s hip-hop giants the Wu-Tang Clan for which he paid $2 million. Even that gave his daily critics cause for pause. What did it sound like? Would it ever be released? And most of all, why did he buy it?
Shkreli has since put the album on eBay, where it’s current high bid is well over $1 million.
Now, Bloomberg has published a bombshell feature claiming that the Wu-Tang album may, in fact, be a $2 million nothing burger: just some other rap producer named Cilvaringz’s pet-project with some Wu-Tang members guesting on it. In short, not a long-lost Wu album at all.
The album, which is reportedly called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, was originally auctioned off by online auction house, Paddle8.
To stoke the fires of intrigue (and honor the election of President Trump), Shkreli leaked some of what he claimed to be the lost Wu-Tang album on November 9, 2016. Watch the video of the leak party below and listen to the snippet.
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