No-one needs another reason to think poorly of Martin Shkreli. He was at the helm of Turing Pharmaceuticals when it acquired the rights to Daraprim, a treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be life-threatening for babies and people with AIDS. Toxoplasmosis did for Tommy in the film Trainspotting.
Shkreli raised the price for a pill from $13.50 to $750. It didn’t make him many friends. So, what does a Shkreli do with his gains?
In 2015, the Wu Tang Clan announced a new work, ‘Once Upon A Time in Shaolin’. They would make one copy and sell it to the highest bidder.
Enter the dragon. Shkreli paid two million dollars for it. He is contractually unable to distribute it commercially. He did livestream a snippet of the first song, having promised to do so if Donald Trump were elected president.
The original contract for the sale was rumored to include the clause: “The seller may legally plan and attempt to execute one (1) heist or caper to steal back ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,’ which, if successful, would return all ownership rights to the seller. Said heist or caper can only be undertaken by currently active members of the Wu-Tang Clan and/or actor Bill Murray, with no legal repercussions.”
(The clause doesn’t exist, but let’s not let that spoil a good story.)