U.S. sells Martin Shkreli's Wu-Tang Clan album

The U.S. government said it sold imprisoned drug company executive Martin Shkreli's one-of-a-kind album by Wu-Tang Clan to pay off the $7.36 million he was ordered to forfeit after being convicted of fraud.

Gloria Tso reports.

The unreleased Wu-Tang clan album purchased by jailed drug company executive Martin Shkreli was sold by the U.S. government on Tuesday.

The price and buyer were not disclosed due to a confidentiality provision, but prosecutors say it's enough to pay off the rest of the more than $7 million he owed after his 2018 sentencing.

Shkreli's lawyer said in an email he was pleased the payment was fulfilled, and said the album's sale price was "substantially more" than what Shkreli paid for it.

Nicknamed "Pharma Bro," Shkreli remains widely vilified for hiking the price of a drug which treated a potentially fatal infection.

As the former head of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Shkreli hiked the price of Daraprim by more than 4,000% overnight.

He has been serving a seven-year prison sentence for cheating investors in two hedge funds, and trying to prop up the stock price of Retrophin, another drug company he led.

Shkreli paid $2 million for Wu-Tang Clan's only copy of "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" at an auction by the hip-hop group.

He later bragged that he did not plan to listen to the album and purchased it to "keep it from the people." Prosecutors said they still possess two other Shkreli assets that could be applied toward a separate $2.6 million case against him.

In January, a judge rejected Shkreli's request to be freed from prison on mental health grounds.

Prison records show his release is scheduled for Oct.

11, 2022.