Martin Shkreli Wants Wu-Tang’s RZA Pulled Into Legal Battle Over Ultra-Rare Album

Martin Shkreli now wants a federal judge to force Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to participate in the messy legal battle over the group’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

Weeks after a judge ruled that the lawsuit against Shkreli could move ahead, the pharma exec now says the litigation over the ultra-rare record cannot be resolved without dragging RZA (Robert Diggs) and album producer Cilvaringz (Tarik Azzougarh) into the fight.

“Plaintiff, defendant and [RZA and Cilvaringz] each claim conflicting interests in the same property,” Shkreli’s lawyers write in a Monday court filing, obtained and first reported by Billboard. “[RZA and Cilvaringz] are indispensable parties to this litigation.”

The lawsuit was filed by PleasrDAO, a group that bought Once Upon after Shkreli forfeited it to prosecutors. But the “Pharma Bro” says Pleasr’s allegations will ultimately turn on RZA – specifically, on the terms of the 2015 deal in which he sold the rare album Shkreli.

Pleasr, which has spent the last two years trying to monetize the fabled Wu-Tang album, has argued in the past that it bought all necessary copyrights to it. But in Monday’s filing, Shkreli says that cannot be true for one simple reason: His original purchase agreement with RZA gave him a 50 percent stake in those rights, as well as a promise to eventually hand over the rest decades in the future.

“Plaintiff claims that it bought the copyrights in and exclusive rights to exploit the recordings,” his lawyers say. “Defendant denies this allegation, and claims that he is the present owner of 50% of the copyrights in the album, and the present owner of a future interest in 100% of the copyrights in the album.”

It’s unclear if RZA and Cilvaringz will oppose the motion. They have not filed their own motion seeking to “intervene” in the case, a typical first step if a person wants to join someone else’s lawsuit because they feel it implicates their own rights. A rep for RZA did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday; a rep for Cilvaringz could not immediately be located.

In a statement to Billboard, Shkreli’s attorney Edward Paltzik said: “To the casual observer, this case would seem to involve several alleged online postings. However, on closer inspection, there is a much bigger issue, which is ownership of the copyright to Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. It is not possible to obtain a ruling on this issue without all stakeholders joined in the case.”

Reps for Pleasr did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.

A legendary piece of hip hop lore, Once Upon was recorded in secret and published just once on a CD secured in an engraved nickel and silver box. In addition to the bizarre trappings, it came with unusual legal stipulations — namely, that the one-of-a-kind album could not be released to the general public until 2103.

In 2015, the album was purchased for $2 million by Shkreli — soon to become the infamous “Pharma Bro” who intentionally spiked the price of crucial AIDS medications. But after he was convicted of securities fraud in 2017, he forfeited it to prosecutors to help pay a huge restitution sentence.

Pleasr then bought Once Upon from the government in 2021 for $4 million; in 2024, the group says, it acquired copyrights and other rights for another $750,000. The group has been playing it at private events and has sold extremely limited access.

After Shkreli made threats to release the album publicly last year, Pleasr sued him in federal court, warning such a move would destroy the exclusivity that the company had purchased. The case accused him of both breaching the federal forfeiture order and violating federal trade secrets law, which protects valuable proprietary information from misappropriation. And last month, a federal judge sided with Pleasr and said portions of the case could move ahead toward trial.

But in his new filings, Shrekli says nothing can be resolved until RZA and Cilvaringz join the case – a move that would escalate a messy squabble between third parties into full-scale legal war over the famous Wu-Tang album.

Shkreli says the two are crucial because the 2015 sale contract gave him a 50 percent stake in the copyrights to the album, with RZA and Cilvaringz retaining the other half. The terms of the deal also promised him transfer of the “full copyright ownership” after 88 years “without further obligation or payment to anyone.” Since Pleasr now claims that it bought full ownership of those same rights, Shkreli says the court needs to get to the bottom of it.

“Because plaintiff and defendant advance competing claims as to the ownership of the copyrights, the court cannot afford complete relief amongst the parties without the absent co-owners,” the exec’s lawyers write, referring to RZA and Cilvaringz.

It’s unclear if Shkreli’s legal team has directly asked the artists to enter the legal battle, or if they refused to do so. His lawyer declined to comment on whether had made such a request before filing Monday’s motion.