Tuesday, February 9

Martin Shkreli’s troubles deepen—from allegations of fraud to IP infringement

Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing, mocks his way through a congressional hearing last week on drug pricing and later called lawmakers imbeciles. (credit: CPSAN)

Embattled former pharma CEO Martin Shkreli's legal troubles deepened Tuesday when the poster child for greed was sued for copyright infringement in connection to the $2 million Wu-Tang Clan hip-hop album he bought last year.

Shkreli is the founder and former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals who became reviled for increasing the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5,000 percent last year. He also faces unrelated federal criminal charges that he allegedly defrauded investors, and he has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination before congressional panels probing the price of pharmaceuticals.

The latest brouhaha concerns his exclusive $2 million purchase of the "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" album, the only copy Wu-Tang Clan produced. The 32 year old said he bought the album to "keep it from the people." Packaging for the album includes a 174-page book with all sorts of writings, pictures, and drawings. In that book are portraits of band members created by a New York artist named Jason Koza, who claims in a new federal lawsuit that he never authorized their reproduction.

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