March 3, 2026

“Pharma Bro” or “Pharma Clown”: Martin Shkreli Keeps Screwing Up the Wu-Tang Case

By Emily Poler

After my last post on Michael Bay’s laughable lawsuit against Cadillac’s Formula 1 team, I feel like carrying on the theme of litigation or claims so absurd they can only bring embarrassment to the party pursuing them. And lucky me, our old friend Martin Shkreli is back with new and bizarre maneuvers in his defense against the lawsuit brought by PleasrDAO. Let’s dive into the latest preposterous developments around our favorite felonious “Pharma Bro.” 

In that lawsuit, which I previously wrote about in October, PleasrDAO, a “Decentralized Autonomous Organization” of digital artists and NFT collectors, purchased in 2021 the (supposedly) sole existing copy of the Wu-Tang Clan double CD “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” (the “Album”), which the U.S. Department of Justice seized from Shkreli upon his 2017 securities fraud conviction. When Shkreli originally purchased the Album in 2015, he signed a restrictive agreement preventing him from copying it. Nonetheless, after his release from prison in 2022, Shkreli proudly proclaimed that he had retained digital copies of the Album, and hosted a “listening party” on Xwitter. PleasrDAO soon filed a complaint in New York District Court against Shkreli alleging, among other things, violations of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) and state trade secret law. In September of last year, the Court denied Shkreli’s motion to dismiss, finding that PleasrDAO had adequately alleged that the Album could qualify as a trade secret as PleasrDAO. I found this to be a very interesting, and frankly rather unique, decision.

Well, the lawsuit continues to be interesting, but not for any sane reason — because, Shkreli. In late 2025 or early 2026, he tried to add the Album’s producers and Wu-Tang members RZA and Cilvaringz to the lawsuit. Here, Shkreli argued that he and PleasrDAO had competing claims over who owns the copyrights in the Album, and since those individuals also owned a portion of the copyright to the Album, their participation was necessary for there to be a complete resolution of the matter.

Judge Pamela Chen, however, was having none of this, noting that even Shkreli should understand that the action against him had nothing to do with copyright infringement. 

Undeterred, Shkreli tried to sue RZA and Cilvaringz, naming them as “counter-defendants” in the PleasrDFO lawsuit. Once again, the judge rejected him, since neither RZA nor Cilvaringz were parties to the lawsuit. You see, there’s a very basic rule here: a counterclaim has to be brought against an individual or entity that is already a party to the lawsuit — and in this case, the only other party is PleasrDao. Apparently, Shkreli’s attorneys were unfamiliar with this rather obvious procedural requirement.

Sigh. I get it. Sometimes it’s hard to remember the difference between a cross-claim, counterclaim and third-party claim, but come on, “bro.” Look it up before filing something in federal court.

But why stop there? After Shkreli and his lawyers clowned themselves twice, they persisted. Most recently, Shkreli filed a third-party complaint naming RZA and Cilvaringz as defendants, asserting that they are required to reimburse him for any damages he incurs as a result of PleasrDAO’s claims, as well as for his legal expenses. His basis for this claim? The 2015 agreement pursuant to which Wu-Tang sold Shkreli the Album, which provides that Wu-Tang will indemnify Shkreli “in each and any case or proceeding of any type arising out of, in connection with, or in any way related to the Work, the Buyer’s Permitted Uses of the [Album].” 

There are so many problems here. 

For starters, it’s entirely unclear how this lawsuit is related to Shkreli’s permitted use of the Album. The crux of the issue in the PleasrDAO suit is that Shkreli made copies of the album that he was contractually prohibited from making, and that he has continued to use and broadcast those copies even after forfeiting his interests. That really doesn’t sound like a “permitted” use, does it?

What’s more, it’s not even clear that RZA and Cilvaringz can be sued in New York. According to what was filed, RZA lives in California and Cilvaringz lives in Morocco. Maybe they generously agreed to be sued in New York, but the latest filing is silent on this point. 

Also, it seems likely that the government’s seizure of the Album as part of Shkreli’s 2017 sentence included the seizure of all of his rights related to the Album. So if you ask me, he’s got nothing to go on here. But what do I know? I’m not a “Pharma Bro,” and I suppose anything’s possible in the alternate reality such a creature inhabits.