The long-shrouded mystery behind Wu-Tang Clan‘s elusive album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin has finally been cracked.
A new report from Bloomberg has uncovered the exact amount paid by the intermediary who bought the album from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2018, which was $2,238,482.30. The album, originally sold to Martin Shkreli in 2015, was seized by the DOJ after Shkreli’s 2017 conviction for securities fraud.
Journalist Jason Leopold spent close to three years fighting for clarity by using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the bill of sale, purchase agreement, and internal DOJ emails. He finally received the unredacted documents on July 11, confirming the figure many had speculated about.
In 2021, crypto collective PleasrDAO made headlines by purchasing the album. However, the collective didn’t buy it directly from the DOJ, but through a Hong Kong-based shell company called WTC Endeavours Limited that was created solely for the transaction.
PleasrDAO also inherited the same restrictive terms that Shkreli agreed to, which stipulate that the album can’t be copied or released until 2103, although private listening sessions are permitted. However, in 2024, the collective began exploring creative solutions with Wu-Tang Clan members and eventually turned the album into an NFT.
Through PleasrDao’s platform, fans can contribute to unlocking the album’s public release, accelerating it by 88 seconds for every dollar paid. However, it would take $30 million to publicly release the entire album right now.
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