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| Martin Shkreli Releases Parts of Wu-Tang Clan Album After Trump Victory | Martin Shkreli Releases Parts of Wu-Tang Clan Album After Trump Victory |
| (2 days later) | |
| Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive who was denounced for raising the price of a prescription drug by more than 5,000 percent, has released music from the only known copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album he owns exclusively. He had promised to do so if Donald J. Trump was elected president. | Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive who was denounced for raising the price of a prescription drug by more than 5,000 percent, has released music from the only known copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album he owns exclusively. He had promised to do so if Donald J. Trump was elected president. |
| Mr. Shkreli made the initial announcement on Oct. 27 on Twitter. After Tuesday’s election, Mr. Shkreli appeared on the livestream platforms Periscope and Hitbox and said: “I will be releasing this music over a long period of time. But let me play a little bit of it now.” | Mr. Shkreli made the initial announcement on Oct. 27 on Twitter. After Tuesday’s election, Mr. Shkreli appeared on the livestream platforms Periscope and Hitbox and said: “I will be releasing this music over a long period of time. But let me play a little bit of it now.” |
| Sipping from a Coca-Cola can, he grinned and bopped his head a few times as he played the introduction of the album, “The Wu — Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.” | Sipping from a Coca-Cola can, he grinned and bopped his head a few times as he played the introduction of the album, “The Wu — Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.” |
| Mr. Shkreli called Mr. Trump’s victory “fantastic.” He said he was still deciding how to play other portions of the music. | Mr. Shkreli called Mr. Trump’s victory “fantastic.” He said he was still deciding how to play other portions of the music. |
| “I’ve got to decide how to put out — there’s about 30, 35 tracks,” he said during the livestream. “I actually have a contract with the Wu-Tang Clan where I’m not allowed to do this. Obviously, I own the music and I bought it and I paid a lot of money for it. In many ways, the contract shouldn’t matter that much.” | “I’ve got to decide how to put out — there’s about 30, 35 tracks,” he said during the livestream. “I actually have a contract with the Wu-Tang Clan where I’m not allowed to do this. Obviously, I own the music and I bought it and I paid a lot of money for it. In many ways, the contract shouldn’t matter that much.” |
| “But I am a man of my word; I had to play a little bit of it,” he said. | “But I am a man of my word; I had to play a little bit of it,” he said. |
| Mr. Shkreli’s purchase of the Wu-Tang Clan album had initially been a secret. In 2014, the group announced that it would press just one copy of the 31-track double album that it had worked on quietly for six years, and that it would make it available for purchase to only one person. | Mr. Shkreli’s purchase of the Wu-Tang Clan album had initially been a secret. In 2014, the group announced that it would press just one copy of the 31-track double album that it had worked on quietly for six years, and that it would make it available for purchase to only one person. |
| In November 2015, the online auction house, Paddle8, mysteriously announced that it had sold the album for millions but did not name the buyer. | In November 2015, the online auction house, Paddle8, mysteriously announced that it had sold the album for millions but did not name the buyer. |
| At that time, Mr. Shkreli was already in the public spotlight. The company he founded, Turing Pharmaceuticals, set off a furor in September 2015 after it acquired the rights to Daraprim, a treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be serious for babies and people with AIDS. | |
| He then raised its price overnight to $750 a pill from $13.50. | He then raised its price overnight to $750 a pill from $13.50. |
| Mr. Shkreli stepped down as chief executive after being arrested on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud related to his time as a hedge fund manager and when he ran his first biopharmaceutical company, Retrophin. Federal officials accused him of a quasi-Ponzi scheme and said he used money from his company to pay off money-losing investors in his hedge funds. | Mr. Shkreli stepped down as chief executive after being arrested on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud related to his time as a hedge fund manager and when he ran his first biopharmaceutical company, Retrophin. Federal officials accused him of a quasi-Ponzi scheme and said he used money from his company to pay off money-losing investors in his hedge funds. |
| Last year, a Bloomberg Business article about the purchase of the Wu-Tang Clan album quoted “someone familiar with the deal” as saying the group had sold Mr. Shkreli the album for $2 million. It also quoted Mr. Shkreli as saying that he was a “little worried that they were going to walk out of the deal” because of outrage over the drug pricing. | Last year, a Bloomberg Business article about the purchase of the Wu-Tang Clan album quoted “someone familiar with the deal” as saying the group had sold Mr. Shkreli the album for $2 million. It also quoted Mr. Shkreli as saying that he was a “little worried that they were going to walk out of the deal” because of outrage over the drug pricing. |
| “But by then we’d closed,” Mr. Shkreli was quoted by Bloomberg Business as saying about the album purchase. | “But by then we’d closed,” Mr. Shkreli was quoted by Bloomberg Business as saying about the album purchase. |
| “The whole kind of thing since then has been just kind of ‘Well, do we want to announce it’s him? Do we not want to announce it’s him?’” | “The whole kind of thing since then has been just kind of ‘Well, do we want to announce it’s him? Do we not want to announce it’s him?’” |