In January of this year, Martin Shkreli bought a copy of Lil Wayne's notoriously delayed Carter V album. Shkreli claims that when Wayne sold his Bugatti he left a CD of the album in it. Then the car's new owner sold the CD to Shkreli.
Wayne's people threaten to sue Shkreli over it, and he promised not to leak it.
But it's not up to him anymore. Shkreli is currently in jail, awaiting sentencing on two counts of security fraud and one of conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors have asked Judge Kiyo Matsumoto to seize $7.4 million from Shkreli. $5 million will come from the bail he posted. The rest will come from the selling off of his assets -- including Carter V and the one-off Wu-Tang album Once Upon A Time in Shaolin. (Which Shkreli apparently wasn't able to auction off.)
#BREAKING the government wants Martin Shkreli to hand over the Wu Tang album in forfeiture (!!!) pic.twitter.com/bOzWjlLeOx
— David Mack (@davidmackau) December 1, 2017
The language in the court order pretty clearly states the feds could then sell the albums.
However, we imagine that copyright laws would supersede -- particularly in the case of Carter V.
But you never know. Uncle Sam is pretty gangster. Maybe even more gangster than Birdman.