Martin Shkreli puts $2 million Wu-Tang album on eBay, seeks lock of Hillary Clinton's hair

Despite his recent criminal conviction, the Pharma Bro is still making some high-stakes trades

Published September 7, 2017 12:24PM (EDT)

Martin Shkreli   (AP/Richard Drew)
Martin Shkreli (AP/Richard Drew)

Martin Shkreli, the so-called "Pharma Bro" convicted of securities fraud last month, is selling his $2 million one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang album on eBay. The current bid for the album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin," is just north of $1 million as of Thursday morning.

Shkreli's abrupt decision to sell the album, the only copy ever produced, comes just days after he announced that he was willing to pay a hefty fee for a lock of Hillary Clinton's hair.

"The Clinton Foundation is willing to KILL to protect its secrets," Shrekli wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post.

"So on [Hillary Clinton's] book tour, try to grab a hair from her. I must confirm the [DNA] sequences I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton. Payment after the sequence matches. Good luck, patrollers," he wrote.

Shkreli's net worth is reportedly valued in the millions, so it is unlikely that auctioning off the Wu-Tang album is connected to his personal bottom line. Indeed, in an ad for the sale, Shkreli said he was motivated to sell the album in part because of the "scorn" he had received for purchasing the music.

"I decided to purchase this album as a gift to the Wu-Tang Clan for their tremendous musical output. Instead I received scorn from at least one of their (least-intelligent) members, and the world at large failed to see my purpose of putting a serious value behind music," Shkreli purportedly wrote.

"At any time I may cancel this sale and I may even break this album in frustration," he added. I will donate half of the sale proceeds to medical research. I am not selling to raise cash — my companies and I have record amounts of cash on hand," the ad continued.

The album itself — which Shkreli purchased in November of 2015 — contains 31 songs, skits and stories. It is the most expensive musical work ever sold, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.


By Taylor Link

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