November 25, 2025 • 35 mins
Exclusivity was the point of Wu-Tang Clan's Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. Only one copy was produced. A few minutes of it were played -- once -- in public. It sold at auction, with the condition it be heard only in private. And the album may have remained shrouded in mystery, were it not for a pharma bro, a Justice Department seizure... and the power of the Freedom of Information Act.
Thanks to Open Mike Eagle for reading this week's Justice Department documents.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I gotta be honest. I never thought I'd be doing
a lawsuit about a single copy of a Wu Tang record.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yeah. I love this story and how the album ends
up in the hands of the US marshals and it
just sits there in a vault for like two years.
Cue the music. I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold. I spend
most of my days getting documents from the government.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm attorney Matt Tapik, and I fight them in court
to open their files when they don't want to.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
From Bloomberg and no smiling. This is Disclosure, a podcast
about buying loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act,
and the unexpected places that takes us. Matt, what T
shirt you wearing today?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I've warned this thing a thousand times.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
It's a bacon mobile. Bacon mobile. Nice, It's like a
food truck looking thing. It says, a bacon mobile one dollar.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So. Prices have gone up quite a bit on bacon
since I got this shirt.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, they have also the health risks as well. Matt, Oh,
don't believe that. What do you say that this T
shirt is like amazing? Is it the quality of the shirt,
the material? Yes, there were instances in my life where
I would find a shirt that I loved, and it's
usually a band T shirt that was so comfortable that
I have to buy two in case the one got ripped.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
This is one of those.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
And the funny thing about this weird tick that I
had of needing two of everything and how it relates
to the foyer, is that back in the day, agencies
would say to me when they're conducting a search, Hey,
do you mind if we remove the duplicates, like duplicate emails,
And I'm like, yes, I mind. I want two of everything,
So like two of everything, even like extended to whatever.
(01:38):
Like they're telling me, like, may take longer. I'm like,
but I want both. I need to have two of everything.
I finally, you needed someone to tell me, like, listen,
you're not going to miss anything. If you tell them
to remove, it's not going to break. But for some reason,
it was just like, no, I want both. You're deeply distrustful.
That's very true, as you should be. It's your job,
(02:00):
which is why we fought as hard and long as
we did against the government to get that bill of
sale that showed finally how much the government sold Once
upon a Time in Shellin. For do we need like
a drum roll?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Drum roll? No, not for Wu Tang, we need like
a record scratch. Hey on, let's do the backstory first.
Can we start with what is Once upon a Time
in Shallin?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Okay? So the Justice Department didn't get his hands on
some used Wu Tang CD. This album Once upon a
Time in shall In wasn't just rare, it was singular,
a creature of myth in an age of mass production.
It's Riza, the architect of the Wu Tang clan, wanted
the album to be treated like a sacred artifact. It
(02:48):
was a way to restore value to music by making
it scarce, untouchable. In his view, people only truly value
what they can have.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
We've only made one copy and and it's gonna you
got to go to a museum to hear it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
The album's creation defied every convention of the music industry.
No labels, no corporate fingerprints. It was all a shadow
operation known only to Rizza and the producer, not even
other Wu Tang members. I didn't know anything about anything,
not method Man, not ghost face Killer. That was never
(03:23):
really know what I Over six years, the album took
shape in fragments recorded mostly in Staten Island, forged in Marrakech,
and finally pressed into a double disc set sealed inside
a vault at one of Africa's finest hotels. This was
Rizza's Phantom Treasure. Thirty one tracks. Every member of Wu
(03:45):
Tang on the record, with guest appearances from Redman, a
few FC Barcelona players, and apparently the Goddess of pop.
That voice sounds familiar, yes, a.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Little bit like share.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Apparently because very few people have heard the album, and
that's the point. In March twenty fourteen, Riza announced that
he was about to put out an album like no
one had ever done in the history of modern music.
It's like the Illis package right there.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, the Hillis album covering the history of the world.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
The plan was for once upon a time in Shaolin
to disappear into private hands, sold to a single chosen bidder.
Its new master would be bound by an oath of silence.
Only the owner or those summoned to private, heavily guarded
listening rituals would ever hear it. No recordings, no leaks,
(04:40):
no exceptions. The album wouldn't be released publicly for eighty
eight years. Once the world got wind of Once upon
a Time in shall In it indeed became a living legend.
A guy from Forbes flew to Morocco to be one
of the first to hear the record before it got
auctioned off. I'm going to drive about one hundred and
fifty miles to Marrakesh, and then I'm going to go
(05:01):
into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains to hear part
of the Wu Tang plant's new secret album at a
MoMA PS one unveiling. Roughly one hundred and fifty hand
picked guests endured tsa level security, surrendering phones, passing double
metal detector scans, and facing guards checking for bugs just
to hear a thirteen minute excerpt of the album, which
(05:24):
by the way, was locked behind velvet ropes and hulking
security men.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We are all in the very privileged situation to witness
the first, the last, and the only public listening session
of Once Upon a Time in Shao Lein.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
But not everyone was so enthusiastic about the record. Fans
were upset that they couldn't hear it. Other Wu Tang
members agreed, and many of them felt shut out of
the project entirely they took issue with the idea of
their music being locked away like a private treasure, not
to mention how the producer went about the project.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Everybody else just got paid whenever they got paid for
their feature.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
But you accept me that you're gonna build the album
around it. That's the sneaky. That's ghost Face Killer on
the bootleg keV podcast saying he didn't know his track
would be turned into a secret Wu Tang Clan album
and sold for millions without the group being cut in.
Didn't y'all gonna do that? It didn't even bring nobody off.
Do you show that for that much? I'll be honest
(06:22):
with you. I do like Wu Tang Clan and I
thought it was just wow, that's interesting. But it wasn't
until they auctioned it off and then finding out who
the buyer was where it suddenly became a little bit
more interesting to me.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Bill Ball comes on, right, is that Rizza?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
That's Riza on an interview series build and he.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Goes, hey, you guys, hear about this comeback and it's
ma scurelly like.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Wait a minute, hey baby, that's the guy that bought
the album.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
So Martin Screlly is the farmer Bro, the farmer.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Bro, farmer Bro, the notorious farmer Bro. He's best known
as the farmer Bro Martin Screlly.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
If I was aware of that, I may have every
different approach to put that in his head. And I
want to describe him.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I'm going to look and see how the Internet has
described him. I mean, I immediately found on Reddit Screlly
is a piece of that raised prescription drug prices thousands
of percent. He's also been called a moor Ley bankrupt sociopath,
a garbage monster, and everything that's wrong with capitalism.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And why is he hated?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Well, tonight, the head of a drug company who's accused
of gouging patients says he should be thanked.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I don't really care about people hating me. He was
a farmer executive and a hedge fund manager. He had
this company and this is what earned him that notorious
nickname farmer Bro. He jacked up the price of this
life saving drug by like five thousand percent. There's no
excuse from going from thirteen dollars and fifty cents to
seven hundred and fifty dollars for one pill.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
This is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules
and my investors expect me to baximize profits.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
People started calling him the most hated man in America.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
What do you say to that signal pregnant woman who
might have aids she needs terre prihim in order to survive.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
He had testified before Congress about the drug, the price
of what he raised. He was very, very smug.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment
privilege against self incrimination.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Then he was charged with securities fraud, nothing to do
with any price gouging, but for defrauding investors in his
hedge fund. Busy guy. People hated him, They had choice
words for him, and anyway along the way, he purchased
Once upon a Time in Shallon. What did you think
the first time you listened to it? He was mad,
(08:47):
but I don't think it was ever about the music,
not exactly thirty six shapers.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So he wins the auction and he pays for the
album with drug blood money basically, oh man, So how
much exactly did he pay for it? Most reports put
it out two million Shtrelli himself has said one point
five million. So how did the government get the album?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Eventually gets to a point where they put him in jail.
He's convicted of securities fraud, has a seven year sentence,
and as part of that, the government seesed a bunch
of his assets, including Once upon a Time in Shallon.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
After he's convicted of securities fraud, he owes a bunch
of restitution and then they seize his assets order to
pay back the victims.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Is that the idea exactly?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I got to say, as a piece of performance art,
if that's what you look at the album is, it's
doing pretty good right now?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah? Right?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
It ends up in the hands of this crazy guy
and then it gets seized by the federal government right
in an asset seizure to pay off the guy's restitution. Like,
I mean, how amazing is that. You couldn't have made
a better storyline for this album.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
It's amazing. So they seize this album and that's kind
of the last thing we hear about it for probably
about three, you know, over three years.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So what's going on in the summer I move twenty
twenty one, Jason, that causes you to make this request?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
There was so much secrecy around this. What was happening
at that time was the Justice Department and the US
marshals had this joint announcement where they sold once upon
a time in Shoulin to whom. They didn't say who
they sold it to. But here's what the announcement said,
read by rapper and comedian open Mike Eagle, the contract
(10:24):
of sale contains a confidentiality provision that protects information relating
to the buyer and price. It was that secret. So
I followed requests with the DOJ Criminal Division after the announcement,
and they were taking an unnecessarily long time to respond.
I sent this to you because I wanted to sue.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, you wanted your records and you realized it was
going to take a lawsuit to get it. I assume
you didn't just like want to sue.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Why would you assume that I was just trying to
make you sound good, buddy. But let's fine.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Jason enjoys the combat, yes, Matt, I enjoy the government
fulfilling their duty to release records that below to the public,
and sometimes that takes a lawsuit. Okay, fair enough, let
me read the email.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Start us up, buddy, all right?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I get an email from Jason about a request that
he made to the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.
I request disclosure from the Asset Recovery Section in the
Office of the Criminal Division for the following records. One.
A copy of the receipt of sale of the album
Once Upon a Time In shall In by the recording
group Wu Tang Clan. A copy of the contract in
(11:29):
returns of sale by the Government of Once Upon a
Time in shall In any and all photographs in video,
and possession of the Asset Recovery Section of Once Upon
a Time In shallon any, all legal memos, opinions and
guidance provided to the Asset Recovery Section related or referring
to the sale of Once Upon a Time in shall In,
and just a bunch of other communications about all this stuff.
(11:52):
This is like the most formal email I've ever gotten
from you. May I have some lawsuits?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Please please, sir? Can I? It's not even any profanity
in this anyway? So we filew the lawsuit and in
only a few short months I actually did get some records,
which is surprising because sometimes it can take years before
we'll see anything. It's January twenty twenty two and the
first batch of records hits my inbox. And what's the
(12:17):
first thing that catches my eye photos. There are photos
of the mythical Once upon a Time in shall Lin
take a look at these photos, Matt? What do you see? So?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
The first thing I see is this black box with
a Wu Tang insignia on tap that kind of looks
like a large cigar humidor.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
It's not just a black box. It's a cedar wood
box covered in black cow leather with light beige velvet lining.
According to the asset list.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Looking at this, someone has not taken very good care
of this. It's like scratched up. It looks like there's
like cigarette ash on it. Like I don't know what
this thing's been through, but I don't think mister Scrilly
just put this in like somewhre re safe keeping, like
it's a little worn for wear.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
What's inside the box?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So you open up the box and then there's another
box inside that is like gold and it's got really
sort of intricate patterns on it, and another Wu tang
it's singing on top of it.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It's a nickel silver box and an inner jewel case
containing two CDs over cedar wood with black cow leather lining.
To be precise, this one looks like.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It's maybe gotten a little bit of use to.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
These descriptions are so damn sexy.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, it's real sexy.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Wait if there's also a leather battle lyric book that
looks like it came from Jandolf yet totally.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It's like, got this like medieval kind of like leather
look with some fancy metalwork on it.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
And look, the certificate of purchase has its own book.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You've got a gold certificate with some insignias on it.
And then it looks like we've got like a wax imprint,
something that would have been used hundreds of years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
What does it say, Matt.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Dear mister Martin Screlley, here by your purchase certificate from Squoze.
Congratulations on your purchase. Right, Martin Screlly's name is now
permanently associated with this album. For just one point five
million dollars, hip hop culture could be yours.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But I wanted to know how much the DOJ sold
it for more on that after the break, So I
get the first batch of records and they are incredible.
The majority of good fifty pages are just photos. I'm
seeing once upon a time and shell in for the
first time. But how much did the government auction it
(14:39):
off for I was dying to know. And right there
before my eyes at the end of the batch of
records is the purchase agreement. I was about to find
out there toward the bottom purchase price quote, the price
is redacted. They redacted the price. But wait, the very
(15:05):
last page the United States Marshals bill of sale quote. Now, therefore,
and in consideration of the payment of the sum of
redacted the reason for trade secrets, Matt, can you explain that?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So there's an exemption in FOYA that says the government
isn't required to release trade secret kind of information that
they receive from people or companies in the course of
doing government stuff. So the government's argument is that this
is a trade secret and they're not supposed to release it.
But our counter to that was basically that the buyer
(15:43):
had already publicly announced.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
What they paid for it. Right In October twenty twenty one,
The New York Times revealed that the new owners of
Once Upon a Time in Shell in, a digital art
and crypto collective known as Pleaser Dow, had paid the
equivalent of four million dollars in a cryptocurrency tied to
the dollar for the album according to the story, please
(16:07):
are now obtained it through an intermediary, which then paid
the government. I wanted to see if the bill of
sale back that up, so I was furious. The people
absolutely deserve to know what their government is off to,
how much they're auctioning off for. But it would take
another three years to find out why because there was
still more records to come, and I couldn't challenge the
(16:29):
exemptions until all records were in. What happened next was
at times illuminating, other times it was maddening. I get
the next batch of records nearly four months later. I
opened them up and they appear to be emails between
the attorneys Matt and open Mike Eagle want to read them.
So this is an email thread titled Screlly Update Wednesday,
(16:50):
fourteen July twenty twenty one, twelve twenty oh one.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Hi Jackie and Alex rejected. Then another reduction it's even bigger,
thanks Laura. And then we've got another part of the
email from Claire that says dear Jackie and Alex, and
it's an even bigger redacted box. So we know who's talking,
but we have no idea what they're saying. Because they've
rejected it all based on some Foyer exemptions.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
The government stripped out all the behind the scenes discussions
that were taking place in emails that would kind of
give us a window into how they were managing and
setting up the sale of the album. And this is
kind of how it went for a few months. I'd
get a slow trickle of records and inside was nothing much,
(17:34):
but a few things were kind of hilarious. So here's
an email from one of the attorneys at the US
Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The
subject line is Screlly Wu Tang Clan album and Picasso.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
All earlier this morning and following yesterday's denial of Screlley's
cert petition, the Marshalls took custody of the Wu Tang
Clan album and Picasso sketch that he owned.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Then somebody responds to that email and says, today's call.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Focused on the album only. We will follow up to
discuss the Picasso, which is worth far less. It's more
like a sketch, and I believe it was a praise
to being worth less than thirty thousand dollars. It's more
like a sketch Wu Tang's single copy album is worth
more than a Picasso sketch, eh. I mean, you know,
I'm not an art collector. That seems kind of low
(18:25):
to me for a Picasso sketch. But he's got like
a million of them.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You know, this is the only copy. I mean, it's
kind of a brilliant idea. Right, they make an album,
they make one copy of it, it's going to be worth,
you know, a fair amount.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
He also had a copy of the Carter five by
Lil Wayne, and they considered seizing that too, but we
never got how much that's worth. I don't know what
that is. You got to leave that part in where
Matt says, I don't know what that is. So these
records were interesting just in terms of getting a little
understanding on how they were communicating behind the scenes. There
(18:59):
were some emails about prospective buyers, and this one is
kind of funny. It's from an attorney representing an interested buyer.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Hi, Claire and Laura, I just wanted to let you
know that my client is still interested in buying at
one million dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
To be clear, he doesn't have.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
One million dollars right now, but things he could raise
it in a realutable amount of time. Please let me
know if there's any interest or also, please do make
a counter offer if you have one, Thanks best, redacted.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, I think he's going to have to do better
than that. That's not even close to what Screlly paid. Yeah,
this is like a classic low ball. Hey, I'm giving
you this garbage offer, but please counter As somebody who
negotiates all the time, that's always kind of annoying, like,
come on, give me a real offer.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And then there's this one from an attorney in the
Isset Forfeiture unit asking for a background check on a
potential buyer who QUO may have a large wallet. Large
in all caps.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It says, Hi, Will, could you please look into both
redacted and let me know if there are any red
flags that would raise concerns or due diligence, criminal history,
issues with dirty funds, et cetera, any indication that they
could have a conflict of interest with Martin Screlly.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Thanks. At least from what we saw, there's no one
discussing holy crap. We got Wu Tang clan Once upon
a time in Shaolin. We got to go, you know,
have a listening party. It was really centered on business,
on legal business. The closest we get to any kind
of excitement about the record is this email between two
(20:38):
assistant US attorneys on the case when they're getting close
to closing a deal.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I'm going to wear my shaolin lid.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Shaolin lid for good luck all week? Dot dot dot
exclamation point.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Like a hat. Yeah, I mean that's what's coming to
mind for me. I actually looked up shaolin lid and
didn't find much on Google. Shallin has been part of
the Wu Tang mythology all along.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
But Shallin lid, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
He's gotta be talking about a hat.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
She's gotta be talking about a hat. But you can't
tell if their ascitement is because they're interested in the
record or if they're just ready to be done with Screlley.
There's one email while the attorneys are shoring up loose
ends with the sale, when one comment.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Hopefully this will mean the end of all things screlly
for us exclamation point.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
In the end.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It all kept the end, and by July twenty twenty one,
the assistant US attorneys seem to relish a little hardball
from a judge presiding over yet another case, one in
civil court.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Screlly was involved in. The subject says.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
See attached decisions from Judge Nathan looks like she isn't
going to tolerate any more delays.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
From Screlly, and the email reads it's about time someone
stopped tolerating his nonsense.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Also, that's a ridiculously long subject line. It's like two sentences.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I mean, basically they put the body of the email
in the subject line.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
It's a little invasive to the inbox in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So during the course of this litigation, you know, we
got to a point where it was kind of interesting
at first, but certainly the redactions didn't help, and it
became just boring and I'm not really getting what I need.
And to make matters worse, after a year of document dumps,
the government tells us we're not even close to the end.
They miraculously found ten thousand more emails. I don't know
(22:33):
how you misplace those, but I'm getting about one hundred
at a time, and it could be years before I
could challenge the redactions. So I did something I've never
done before. That's after the break. So I wanted to
(22:53):
get everything I wanted to know how much the government
auctioned the album off, for who they sold it to,
the name of the corporate entity that purchased the album,
pretty much everything, but they were withholding and so I
was like, Okay, I'm done with these emails. They're really
not telling me anything. I said, let's just move forward
with getting what I want. I told my attorneys that
(23:14):
I was willing to give up the rest of the
emails so they could challenge what we believed was the
agency's improper use of the trade secrets and privacy exemptions.
And so we entered into negotiations, you know, with the government,
and the government maintained that this person had a privacy
interest and that his or her name, you know, would
(23:38):
not be disclosed. Making a long story short, you know,
got to an agreement that basically the government said if
I didn't pursue the name of the individual buyer, meaning
like if I were to just drop that, they would
give us the name of the corporate entity that purchased
the album as well as the purchase price. And I
(23:59):
thought that that was a good deal one because I figured, like, Okay,
if I get the name of the corporate entity, then
maybe I could use that to kind of chase down
who the buyer is, who actually purchased the album.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
But once we came to the decision like okay, we
want to like give up this to get that, I
don't think that was more than weeks or maybe like
a few months.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
So finally in July twenty twenty five, it came the
purchase agreement with a lot of redactions lifted. This asset purchase.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Agreement is made as of July nineteenth, twenty twenty one,
by the United States Marshall Service four and on behalf
of the United States of America and redacted and WTC
Endeavors Limited, a Hong Kong Limited company.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And then scrolling down it says purchase price. So the
government sold the album.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
For two million, two hundred and thirty eight, four hundred
and eighty two dollars and thirty cents for the assets.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
And purchasers will also reimburse the US Marshall Service for
its expenses in.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
The amount of seven thousand, one hundred and sixty two
dollars and twenty seven cents, for a total payment of
two million, two hundred and forty five thousand, six hundred
and forty four dollars and fifty seven cents.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
That's what the government withheld under trade secrets for Genius
for more than three years.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
How did they get to that number?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So it's interesting and a good question. And what I
discovered was is that they basically were just looking to
sell the album to cover what he owed the government.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
But might it not have been worth more than that? Well,
if there was more money to be had, it might
be that that's money that would have to go to screlly.
It's like if you're in foreclosure on your house. If
you owe like one hundred thousand in your house is
worth three hundred thousand. I don't think the bank and
most states gets to just like pocket the other two
(26:01):
hundred thousand. But I'm not a specialist in the sale
of one of a kind albums to satisfy government debts.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
In total, Shcrelli old the government more than seven million,
and the album satisfied the outstanding balance. That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
So that invites an inquiry into whether they really got
as much for it as they could have, because you
could see how they don't really have a whole lot
of incentive to get any more money for it than
whatever it is to satisfy the judgment. If the money's
just going to go back to Screlly, the guy who's
case they can't wait to be done with, and probably
for good reason, then you know, that's why there's an
interest in knowing what the amount is, because I think
(26:40):
that's a fair thing to scrutinize on.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
So what we ended up with and the end was
the purchase price, and that was a big deal to
get that. I mean, it felt like, holy crap, we
pride lose a significant amount of information. And by the way,
the DOJ made it clear to us that please her Now,
the crypto collective that currently owns the album, wasn't connected
(27:03):
in any way to the corporate entity or the individual
who purchased the album. So I thought that was very
interesting that please er Now was not the direct purchaser
of any of this. So I found this, you know,
kind of fascinating. So the name of the company that
was set up to purchase Once upon a Time in
Shaolan is WTC Endeavors Limited, Right, so assuming WTC and
(27:26):
Devor's limited at Wu Tang Clan Endeavors Limited, It's incorporated
in Hong Kong in May twenty twenty, and then dissolved
in March twenty twenty three. So just through a little
slew thing, after we get the unredacted documents with the
purchase price, you know, we were able to see various
officers who are affiliated with WTC endeavors, but none of
(27:51):
those names were well known. So to me, it appears
that the actual name of the person who bought Once
upon a Time I'm in shall Lynn is not even noteworthy.
So the best read I have is that the Justice
Department sold the album to someone we still don't know
who for two point two million dollars, a bit more
than Screlly paid, and that person or entity basically turned
(28:15):
around and sold it again to please her now for
four million dollars worth of crypto. So that's not really
a bad deal.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
It sold for a fair amount more than Screlly paid
for it, right, like double.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Right, which is good for rizz.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I guess just like an appreciates like a house or something,
It's like it is more and more valuable with tom.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Now, do you think any curious people in the Justice
Department decided they would just go ahead and give it
a little listen?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yes? Yes, so that was part of like what I
was hoping that all of the emails that we obtained
through FOYA, through the lawsuit that we filed would actually yeah,
they would actually have someone inside DOJ saying hey, I
just listened to Wu Tang last night. Oh man, you
(29:00):
know what an incredible album. But no, luck, you didn't
need I mean, there were ten thousand more emails we
never got to see. But I will say to this day,
even though we do not have evidence that the government
through a listening party, you know, for once upon a
time in Sheldon the.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Saddest listening party that there ever was in the world.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
I know, but I absolutely believe they listened to it.
Come on, I mean you could.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
They could take the position of like, look, if we're
going to sell this asset, we have to listen to
it first so we know what we're selling right right,
you know, we need to make sure it's authentic.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's really Wu Tang. Yeah, of course they listen to it.
By the way, we'll need to contact the OJAY and.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Ask them whether anyone listened to it.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Whether anyone listened to it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
You could also ask, like any credit card receipts or
reimbursement for any food or beverages that were purchased for
the purposes of a Wu Tang listening party, and you
could kind of indirectly get the answer through that.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Okay, We asked the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern
District in New York if anyone listened to the album them,
and they said no comment.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I mean, I suspect that just their policy is just
always going to be no comment. But that really kind
of feels like if they were going to deny it,
they would have said no.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It's the equivalent Matt of a Glomar response.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Is it is exactly a Glomar response.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
There's actually a stipulation in the purchase agreement that says
at closing, the buyer could play quote.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
At least the first ten seconds of each track, but
they had to bring their own CD player. Look, we're
not giving you the CD player.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And that's funny because I know the government has a
lot of CD players because they're always producing US documents
on CDs.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So it sounds like they followed through. There's an email
from an attorney with the Marshalls asking for a meeting
room with an electrical outlet so the buyer can plug
in their CD player.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I guess it's fair right, like they don't want to
get home, Like, what the hell? This thing doesn't work?
I can't even play in the government's like sorry, buyer, beware,
you're out of luck.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Or if it skips right skip and this is kind
of interesting, so pleaseer now is bound by the same
restrictions as Screlley was when he purchased the album. Right,
they can't stream it or duplicate it until two thousand,
one hundred and three. That sounds like way far in
the future. Last year, however, they found a workaround. Following
(31:19):
discussions with the original artists and producer, the album was
turned into an NFT and for the equivalent of a dollar,
fans can listen to a five minute sampler of Once
Upon a Time in shell In. Each sale will speed
up the release of the album by eighty eight seconds.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Eighty eight seconds, okay, So how much would it cost
to speed it up by a year? Then?
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Okay, we actually did this math. It would cost more
than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to speed up
the release of Once Upon a Time in shell In
by one year.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
WHOA, so have you heard it?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I didn't buy a sample with bitcoin, but Screlly did
make a video of himself playing the record.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Let me play at least a little bit of that's
the intro.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I guess you can get a little bit of check
to to when it sounds theatrical, like you're getting ready
for something big.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
It definitely sounds like wu tang. I mean, I could
see it in a movie mission impossible, But watching it
with Shrelly's reaction to it is so distracting and disturbing,
like he's bobbing his head in the haircut like he's
a keeper. Help.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
You know. My advice is to close your eyes and
just do not look at Screlly while listening to this.
But this was a pretty amazing use of foy if
I do say so myself patting myself on the back here,
it felt like we really knocked down some walls here.
That's you know that the government put up trade secrets,
(33:01):
which didn't make sense to me at least, you know,
getting over that hurdle to obtain the purchase price and
then the name of the corporate entity that then bought
it and then sold it immediately sold it to another entity.
It's kind of amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And we learned that Foye is so broad it can
even get you records about a one of a kind
Wu Tang album that ended up in the hands of
a farmer bro and then ended up in the hands
of the government, who sold it so that the farmer
bro could pay off what he owes for the damage
he caused. That's the power of FOYA. And if it
wasn't clear already, Dox rule everything around us.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Boy, your boy, your request, y'all. Hey open Mike Ego.
By the way, what do you think about all this did?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Further emphasizes how dumb this all is. That there's a
two million dollar Woo Sang album, some weird guy bought it,
and that weird guy went to jail, and now the
government is selling it to people and he won't tell
you who they sold it to. It's all very stupid,
and there's real problems in the world that I wish
these millions of dollars could be addressing somehow instead of
the government doing a weird deal with a secret album
(34:06):
that's probably not even good.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
And there you have it from Bloomberg and no smiling.
This is disclosure. The show is hosted by Matt Topic
and me Jason Leopold, It's produced by Heather Schroering and
Sean Cannon. For No Smiling, our editor for Bloomberg is
Jeff Grocott. Our executive producers for Bloomberg are Sage Bauman
(34:29):
and me Jason Leopold, and our executive producers for No
Smiling are Sean Cannon, Heather Schroering and Matt Topic. The
disclosure theme song is by Nick, with additional music by Nick.
An Epidemic sound, sound design and mixing is by Sean Cannon.
Emails were read this week by open Mic Eagle. For
(34:50):
more transparency news and important document thumps, you can subscribe
to my Weeklyfoya Files newsletter at Bloomberg dot com slash
Foya Files. That's Foia Files. To get every episode early
on Apple podcasts. Become a Bloomberg dot com subscriber today.
Check out our special intro offer right now at Bloomberg
(35:11):
dot com Slash podcast offer, or click the link in
the show notes. You'll also unlock deep reporting data and
analysis from reporters around the world.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
We'll see you again next Tuesday, Boy, you get the
records
I gotta be honest. I never thought I'd be doing
a lawsuit about a single copy of a Wu Tang record.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yeah. I love this story and how the album ends
up in the hands of the US marshals and it
just sits there in a vault for like two years.
Cue the music. I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold. I spend
most of my days getting documents from the government.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm attorney Matt Tapik, and I fight them in court
to open their files when they don't want to.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
From Bloomberg and no smiling. This is Disclosure, a podcast
about buying loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act,
and the unexpected places that takes us. Matt, what T
shirt you wearing today?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I've warned this thing a thousand times.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
It's a bacon mobile. Bacon mobile. Nice, It's like a
food truck looking thing. It says, a bacon mobile one dollar.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So. Prices have gone up quite a bit on bacon
since I got this shirt.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, they have also the health risks as well. Matt, Oh,
don't believe that. What do you say that this T
shirt is like amazing? Is it the quality of the shirt,
the material? Yes, there were instances in my life where
I would find a shirt that I loved, and it's
usually a band T shirt that was so comfortable that
I have to buy two in case the one got ripped.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
This is one of those.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
And the funny thing about this weird tick that I
had of needing two of everything and how it relates
to the foyer, is that back in the day, agencies
would say to me when they're conducting a search, Hey,
do you mind if we remove the duplicates, like duplicate emails,
And I'm like, yes, I mind. I want two of everything,
So like two of everything, even like extended to whatever.
(01:38):
Like they're telling me, like, may take longer. I'm like,
but I want both. I need to have two of everything.
I finally, you needed someone to tell me, like, listen,
you're not going to miss anything. If you tell them
to remove, it's not going to break. But for some reason,
it was just like, no, I want both. You're deeply distrustful.
That's very true, as you should be. It's your job,
(02:00):
which is why we fought as hard and long as
we did against the government to get that bill of
sale that showed finally how much the government sold Once
upon a Time in Shellin. For do we need like
a drum roll?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Drum roll? No, not for Wu Tang, we need like
a record scratch. Hey on, let's do the backstory first.
Can we start with what is Once upon a Time
in Shallin?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Okay? So the Justice Department didn't get his hands on
some used Wu Tang CD. This album Once upon a
Time in shall In wasn't just rare, it was singular,
a creature of myth in an age of mass production.
It's Riza, the architect of the Wu Tang clan, wanted
the album to be treated like a sacred artifact. It
(02:48):
was a way to restore value to music by making
it scarce, untouchable. In his view, people only truly value
what they can have.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
We've only made one copy and and it's gonna you
got to go to a museum to hear it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
The album's creation defied every convention of the music industry.
No labels, no corporate fingerprints. It was all a shadow
operation known only to Rizza and the producer, not even
other Wu Tang members. I didn't know anything about anything,
not method Man, not ghost face Killer. That was never
(03:23):
really know what I Over six years, the album took
shape in fragments recorded mostly in Staten Island, forged in Marrakech,
and finally pressed into a double disc set sealed inside
a vault at one of Africa's finest hotels. This was
Rizza's Phantom Treasure. Thirty one tracks. Every member of Wu
(03:45):
Tang on the record, with guest appearances from Redman, a
few FC Barcelona players, and apparently the Goddess of pop.
That voice sounds familiar, yes, a.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Little bit like share.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Apparently because very few people have heard the album, and
that's the point. In March twenty fourteen, Riza announced that
he was about to put out an album like no
one had ever done in the history of modern music.
It's like the Illis package right there.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, the Hillis album covering the history of the world.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
The plan was for once upon a time in Shaolin
to disappear into private hands, sold to a single chosen bidder.
Its new master would be bound by an oath of silence.
Only the owner or those summoned to private, heavily guarded
listening rituals would ever hear it. No recordings, no leaks,
(04:40):
no exceptions. The album wouldn't be released publicly for eighty
eight years. Once the world got wind of Once upon
a Time in shall In it indeed became a living legend.
A guy from Forbes flew to Morocco to be one
of the first to hear the record before it got
auctioned off. I'm going to drive about one hundred and
fifty miles to Marrakesh, and then I'm going to go
(05:01):
into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains to hear part
of the Wu Tang plant's new secret album at a
MoMA PS one unveiling. Roughly one hundred and fifty hand
picked guests endured tsa level security, surrendering phones, passing double
metal detector scans, and facing guards checking for bugs just
to hear a thirteen minute excerpt of the album, which
(05:24):
by the way, was locked behind velvet ropes and hulking
security men.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We are all in the very privileged situation to witness
the first, the last, and the only public listening session
of Once Upon a Time in Shao Lein.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
But not everyone was so enthusiastic about the record. Fans
were upset that they couldn't hear it. Other Wu Tang
members agreed, and many of them felt shut out of
the project entirely they took issue with the idea of
their music being locked away like a private treasure, not
to mention how the producer went about the project.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Everybody else just got paid whenever they got paid for
their feature.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
But you accept me that you're gonna build the album
around it. That's the sneaky. That's ghost Face Killer on
the bootleg keV podcast saying he didn't know his track
would be turned into a secret Wu Tang Clan album
and sold for millions without the group being cut in.
Didn't y'all gonna do that? It didn't even bring nobody off.
Do you show that for that much? I'll be honest
(06:22):
with you. I do like Wu Tang Clan and I
thought it was just wow, that's interesting. But it wasn't
until they auctioned it off and then finding out who
the buyer was where it suddenly became a little bit
more interesting to me.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Bill Ball comes on, right, is that Rizza?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
That's Riza on an interview series build and he.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Goes, hey, you guys, hear about this comeback and it's
ma scurelly like.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Wait a minute, hey baby, that's the guy that bought
the album.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
So Martin Screlly is the farmer Bro, the farmer.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Bro, farmer Bro, the notorious farmer Bro. He's best known
as the farmer Bro Martin Screlly.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
If I was aware of that, I may have every
different approach to put that in his head. And I
want to describe him.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I'm going to look and see how the Internet has
described him. I mean, I immediately found on Reddit Screlly
is a piece of that raised prescription drug prices thousands
of percent. He's also been called a moor Ley bankrupt sociopath,
a garbage monster, and everything that's wrong with capitalism.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And why is he hated?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Well, tonight, the head of a drug company who's accused
of gouging patients says he should be thanked.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I don't really care about people hating me. He was
a farmer executive and a hedge fund manager. He had
this company and this is what earned him that notorious
nickname farmer Bro. He jacked up the price of this
life saving drug by like five thousand percent. There's no
excuse from going from thirteen dollars and fifty cents to
seven hundred and fifty dollars for one pill.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
This is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules
and my investors expect me to baximize profits.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
People started calling him the most hated man in America.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
What do you say to that signal pregnant woman who
might have aids she needs terre prihim in order to survive.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
He had testified before Congress about the drug, the price
of what he raised. He was very, very smug.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment
privilege against self incrimination.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Then he was charged with securities fraud, nothing to do
with any price gouging, but for defrauding investors in his
hedge fund. Busy guy. People hated him, They had choice
words for him, and anyway along the way, he purchased
Once upon a Time in Shallon. What did you think
the first time you listened to it? He was mad,
(08:47):
but I don't think it was ever about the music,
not exactly thirty six shapers.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So he wins the auction and he pays for the
album with drug blood money basically, oh man, So how
much exactly did he pay for it? Most reports put
it out two million Shtrelli himself has said one point
five million. So how did the government get the album?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Eventually gets to a point where they put him in jail.
He's convicted of securities fraud, has a seven year sentence,
and as part of that, the government seesed a bunch
of his assets, including Once upon a Time in Shallon.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
After he's convicted of securities fraud, he owes a bunch
of restitution and then they seize his assets order to
pay back the victims.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Is that the idea exactly?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I got to say, as a piece of performance art,
if that's what you look at the album is, it's
doing pretty good right now?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah? Right?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
It ends up in the hands of this crazy guy
and then it gets seized by the federal government right
in an asset seizure to pay off the guy's restitution. Like,
I mean, how amazing is that. You couldn't have made
a better storyline for this album.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
It's amazing. So they seize this album and that's kind
of the last thing we hear about it for probably
about three, you know, over three years.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So what's going on in the summer I move twenty
twenty one, Jason, that causes you to make this request?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
There was so much secrecy around this. What was happening
at that time was the Justice Department and the US
marshals had this joint announcement where they sold once upon
a time in Shoulin to whom. They didn't say who
they sold it to. But here's what the announcement said,
read by rapper and comedian open Mike Eagle, the contract
(10:24):
of sale contains a confidentiality provision that protects information relating
to the buyer and price. It was that secret. So
I followed requests with the DOJ Criminal Division after the announcement,
and they were taking an unnecessarily long time to respond.
I sent this to you because I wanted to sue.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, you wanted your records and you realized it was
going to take a lawsuit to get it. I assume
you didn't just like want to sue.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Why would you assume that I was just trying to
make you sound good, buddy. But let's fine.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Jason enjoys the combat, yes, Matt, I enjoy the government
fulfilling their duty to release records that below to the public,
and sometimes that takes a lawsuit. Okay, fair enough, let
me read the email.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Start us up, buddy, all right?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I get an email from Jason about a request that
he made to the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.
I request disclosure from the Asset Recovery Section in the
Office of the Criminal Division for the following records. One.
A copy of the receipt of sale of the album
Once Upon a Time In shall In by the recording
group Wu Tang Clan. A copy of the contract in
(11:29):
returns of sale by the Government of Once Upon a
Time in shall In any and all photographs in video,
and possession of the Asset Recovery Section of Once Upon
a Time In shallon any, all legal memos, opinions and
guidance provided to the Asset Recovery Section related or referring
to the sale of Once Upon a Time in shall In,
and just a bunch of other communications about all this stuff.
(11:52):
This is like the most formal email I've ever gotten
from you. May I have some lawsuits?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Please please, sir? Can I? It's not even any profanity
in this anyway? So we filew the lawsuit and in
only a few short months I actually did get some records,
which is surprising because sometimes it can take years before
we'll see anything. It's January twenty twenty two and the
first batch of records hits my inbox. And what's the
(12:17):
first thing that catches my eye photos. There are photos
of the mythical Once upon a Time in shall Lin
take a look at these photos, Matt? What do you see? So?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
The first thing I see is this black box with
a Wu Tang insignia on tap that kind of looks
like a large cigar humidor.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
It's not just a black box. It's a cedar wood
box covered in black cow leather with light beige velvet lining.
According to the asset list.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Looking at this, someone has not taken very good care
of this. It's like scratched up. It looks like there's
like cigarette ash on it. Like I don't know what
this thing's been through, but I don't think mister Scrilly
just put this in like somewhre re safe keeping, like
it's a little worn for wear.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
What's inside the box?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So you open up the box and then there's another
box inside that is like gold and it's got really
sort of intricate patterns on it, and another Wu tang
it's singing on top of it.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
It's a nickel silver box and an inner jewel case
containing two CDs over cedar wood with black cow leather lining.
To be precise, this one looks like.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It's maybe gotten a little bit of use to.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
These descriptions are so damn sexy.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, it's real sexy.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Wait if there's also a leather battle lyric book that
looks like it came from Jandolf yet totally.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It's like, got this like medieval kind of like leather
look with some fancy metalwork on it.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
And look, the certificate of purchase has its own book.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You've got a gold certificate with some insignias on it.
And then it looks like we've got like a wax imprint,
something that would have been used hundreds of years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
What does it say, Matt.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Dear mister Martin Screlley, here by your purchase certificate from Squoze.
Congratulations on your purchase. Right, Martin Screlly's name is now
permanently associated with this album. For just one point five
million dollars, hip hop culture could be yours.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But I wanted to know how much the DOJ sold
it for more on that after the break, So I
get the first batch of records and they are incredible.
The majority of good fifty pages are just photos. I'm
seeing once upon a time and shell in for the
first time. But how much did the government auction it
(14:39):
off for I was dying to know. And right there
before my eyes at the end of the batch of
records is the purchase agreement. I was about to find
out there toward the bottom purchase price quote, the price
is redacted. They redacted the price. But wait, the very
(15:05):
last page the United States Marshals bill of sale quote. Now, therefore,
and in consideration of the payment of the sum of
redacted the reason for trade secrets, Matt, can you explain that?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So there's an exemption in FOYA that says the government
isn't required to release trade secret kind of information that
they receive from people or companies in the course of
doing government stuff. So the government's argument is that this
is a trade secret and they're not supposed to release it.
But our counter to that was basically that the buyer
(15:43):
had already publicly announced.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
What they paid for it. Right In October twenty twenty one,
The New York Times revealed that the new owners of
Once Upon a Time in Shell in, a digital art
and crypto collective known as Pleaser Dow, had paid the
equivalent of four million dollars in a cryptocurrency tied to
the dollar for the album according to the story, please
(16:07):
are now obtained it through an intermediary, which then paid
the government. I wanted to see if the bill of
sale back that up, so I was furious. The people
absolutely deserve to know what their government is off to,
how much they're auctioning off for. But it would take
another three years to find out why because there was
still more records to come, and I couldn't challenge the
(16:29):
exemptions until all records were in. What happened next was
at times illuminating, other times it was maddening. I get
the next batch of records nearly four months later. I
opened them up and they appear to be emails between
the attorneys Matt and open Mike Eagle want to read them.
So this is an email thread titled Screlly Update Wednesday,
(16:50):
fourteen July twenty twenty one, twelve twenty oh one.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Hi Jackie and Alex rejected. Then another reduction it's even bigger,
thanks Laura. And then we've got another part of the
email from Claire that says dear Jackie and Alex, and
it's an even bigger redacted box. So we know who's talking,
but we have no idea what they're saying. Because they've
rejected it all based on some Foyer exemptions.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
The government stripped out all the behind the scenes discussions
that were taking place in emails that would kind of
give us a window into how they were managing and
setting up the sale of the album. And this is
kind of how it went for a few months. I'd
get a slow trickle of records and inside was nothing much,
(17:34):
but a few things were kind of hilarious. So here's
an email from one of the attorneys at the US
Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The
subject line is Screlly Wu Tang Clan album and Picasso.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
All earlier this morning and following yesterday's denial of Screlley's
cert petition, the Marshalls took custody of the Wu Tang
Clan album and Picasso sketch that he owned.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Then somebody responds to that email and says, today's call.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Focused on the album only. We will follow up to
discuss the Picasso, which is worth far less. It's more
like a sketch, and I believe it was a praise
to being worth less than thirty thousand dollars. It's more
like a sketch Wu Tang's single copy album is worth
more than a Picasso sketch, eh. I mean, you know,
I'm not an art collector. That seems kind of low
(18:25):
to me for a Picasso sketch. But he's got like
a million of them.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You know, this is the only copy. I mean, it's
kind of a brilliant idea. Right, they make an album,
they make one copy of it, it's going to be worth,
you know, a fair amount.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
He also had a copy of the Carter five by
Lil Wayne, and they considered seizing that too, but we
never got how much that's worth. I don't know what
that is. You got to leave that part in where
Matt says, I don't know what that is. So these
records were interesting just in terms of getting a little
understanding on how they were communicating behind the scenes. There
(18:59):
were some emails about prospective buyers, and this one is
kind of funny. It's from an attorney representing an interested buyer.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Hi, Claire and Laura, I just wanted to let you
know that my client is still interested in buying at
one million dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
To be clear, he doesn't have.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
One million dollars right now, but things he could raise
it in a realutable amount of time. Please let me
know if there's any interest or also, please do make
a counter offer if you have one, Thanks best, redacted.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, I think he's going to have to do better
than that. That's not even close to what Screlly paid. Yeah,
this is like a classic low ball. Hey, I'm giving
you this garbage offer, but please counter As somebody who
negotiates all the time, that's always kind of annoying, like,
come on, give me a real offer.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And then there's this one from an attorney in the
Isset Forfeiture unit asking for a background check on a
potential buyer who QUO may have a large wallet. Large
in all caps.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It says, Hi, Will, could you please look into both
redacted and let me know if there are any red
flags that would raise concerns or due diligence, criminal history,
issues with dirty funds, et cetera, any indication that they
could have a conflict of interest with Martin Screlly.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Thanks. At least from what we saw, there's no one
discussing holy crap. We got Wu Tang clan Once upon
a time in Shaolin. We got to go, you know,
have a listening party. It was really centered on business,
on legal business. The closest we get to any kind
of excitement about the record is this email between two
(20:38):
assistant US attorneys on the case when they're getting close
to closing a deal.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I'm going to wear my shaolin lid.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Shaolin lid for good luck all week? Dot dot dot
exclamation point.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Like a hat. Yeah, I mean that's what's coming to
mind for me. I actually looked up shaolin lid and
didn't find much on Google. Shallin has been part of
the Wu Tang mythology all along.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
But Shallin lid, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
He's gotta be talking about a hat.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
She's gotta be talking about a hat. But you can't
tell if their ascitement is because they're interested in the
record or if they're just ready to be done with Screlley.
There's one email while the attorneys are shoring up loose
ends with the sale, when one comment.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Hopefully this will mean the end of all things screlly
for us exclamation point.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
In the end.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It all kept the end, and by July twenty twenty one,
the assistant US attorneys seem to relish a little hardball
from a judge presiding over yet another case, one in
civil court.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Screlly was involved in. The subject says.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
See attached decisions from Judge Nathan looks like she isn't
going to tolerate any more delays.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
From Screlly, and the email reads it's about time someone
stopped tolerating his nonsense.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Also, that's a ridiculously long subject line. It's like two sentences.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I mean, basically they put the body of the email
in the subject line.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
It's a little invasive to the inbox in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So during the course of this litigation, you know, we
got to a point where it was kind of interesting
at first, but certainly the redactions didn't help, and it
became just boring and I'm not really getting what I need.
And to make matters worse, after a year of document dumps,
the government tells us we're not even close to the end.
They miraculously found ten thousand more emails. I don't know
(22:33):
how you misplace those, but I'm getting about one hundred
at a time, and it could be years before I
could challenge the redactions. So I did something I've never
done before. That's after the break. So I wanted to
(22:53):
get everything I wanted to know how much the government
auctioned the album off, for who they sold it to,
the name of the corporate entity that purchased the album,
pretty much everything, but they were withholding and so I
was like, Okay, I'm done with these emails. They're really
not telling me anything. I said, let's just move forward
with getting what I want. I told my attorneys that
(23:14):
I was willing to give up the rest of the
emails so they could challenge what we believed was the
agency's improper use of the trade secrets and privacy exemptions.
And so we entered into negotiations, you know, with the government,
and the government maintained that this person had a privacy
interest and that his or her name, you know, would
(23:38):
not be disclosed. Making a long story short, you know,
got to an agreement that basically the government said if
I didn't pursue the name of the individual buyer, meaning
like if I were to just drop that, they would
give us the name of the corporate entity that purchased
the album as well as the purchase price. And I
(23:59):
thought that that was a good deal one because I figured, like, Okay,
if I get the name of the corporate entity, then
maybe I could use that to kind of chase down
who the buyer is, who actually purchased the album.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
But once we came to the decision like okay, we
want to like give up this to get that, I
don't think that was more than weeks or maybe like
a few months.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
So finally in July twenty twenty five, it came the
purchase agreement with a lot of redactions lifted. This asset purchase.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Agreement is made as of July nineteenth, twenty twenty one,
by the United States Marshall Service four and on behalf
of the United States of America and redacted and WTC
Endeavors Limited, a Hong Kong Limited company.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And then scrolling down it says purchase price. So the
government sold the album.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
For two million, two hundred and thirty eight, four hundred
and eighty two dollars and thirty cents for the assets.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
And purchasers will also reimburse the US Marshall Service for
its expenses in.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
The amount of seven thousand, one hundred and sixty two
dollars and twenty seven cents, for a total payment of
two million, two hundred and forty five thousand, six hundred
and forty four dollars and fifty seven cents.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
That's what the government withheld under trade secrets for Genius
for more than three years.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
How did they get to that number?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So it's interesting and a good question. And what I
discovered was is that they basically were just looking to
sell the album to cover what he owed the government.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
But might it not have been worth more than that? Well,
if there was more money to be had, it might
be that that's money that would have to go to screlly.
It's like if you're in foreclosure on your house. If
you owe like one hundred thousand in your house is
worth three hundred thousand. I don't think the bank and
most states gets to just like pocket the other two
(26:01):
hundred thousand. But I'm not a specialist in the sale
of one of a kind albums to satisfy government debts.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
In total, Shcrelli old the government more than seven million,
and the album satisfied the outstanding balance. That's what I thought.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
So that invites an inquiry into whether they really got
as much for it as they could have, because you
could see how they don't really have a whole lot
of incentive to get any more money for it than
whatever it is to satisfy the judgment. If the money's
just going to go back to Screlly, the guy who's
case they can't wait to be done with, and probably
for good reason, then you know, that's why there's an
interest in knowing what the amount is, because I think
(26:40):
that's a fair thing to scrutinize on.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
So what we ended up with and the end was
the purchase price, and that was a big deal to
get that. I mean, it felt like, holy crap, we
pride lose a significant amount of information. And by the way,
the DOJ made it clear to us that please her Now,
the crypto collective that currently owns the album, wasn't connected
(27:03):
in any way to the corporate entity or the individual
who purchased the album. So I thought that was very
interesting that please er Now was not the direct purchaser
of any of this. So I found this, you know,
kind of fascinating. So the name of the company that
was set up to purchase Once upon a Time in
Shaolan is WTC Endeavors Limited, Right, so assuming WTC and
(27:26):
Devor's limited at Wu Tang Clan Endeavors Limited, It's incorporated
in Hong Kong in May twenty twenty, and then dissolved
in March twenty twenty three. So just through a little
slew thing, after we get the unredacted documents with the
purchase price, you know, we were able to see various
officers who are affiliated with WTC endeavors, but none of
(27:51):
those names were well known. So to me, it appears
that the actual name of the person who bought Once
upon a Time I'm in shall Lynn is not even noteworthy.
So the best read I have is that the Justice
Department sold the album to someone we still don't know
who for two point two million dollars, a bit more
than Screlly paid, and that person or entity basically turned
(28:15):
around and sold it again to please her now for
four million dollars worth of crypto. So that's not really
a bad deal.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
It sold for a fair amount more than Screlly paid
for it, right, like double.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Right, which is good for rizz.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I guess just like an appreciates like a house or something,
It's like it is more and more valuable with tom.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Now, do you think any curious people in the Justice
Department decided they would just go ahead and give it
a little listen?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yes? Yes, so that was part of like what I
was hoping that all of the emails that we obtained
through FOYA, through the lawsuit that we filed would actually yeah,
they would actually have someone inside DOJ saying hey, I
just listened to Wu Tang last night. Oh man, you
(29:00):
know what an incredible album. But no, luck, you didn't
need I mean, there were ten thousand more emails we
never got to see. But I will say to this day,
even though we do not have evidence that the government
through a listening party, you know, for once upon a
time in Sheldon the.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Saddest listening party that there ever was in the world.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
I know, but I absolutely believe they listened to it.
Come on, I mean you could.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
They could take the position of like, look, if we're
going to sell this asset, we have to listen to
it first so we know what we're selling right right,
you know, we need to make sure it's authentic.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's really Wu Tang. Yeah, of course they listen to it.
By the way, we'll need to contact the OJAY and.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Ask them whether anyone listened to it.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Whether anyone listened to it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
You could also ask, like any credit card receipts or
reimbursement for any food or beverages that were purchased for
the purposes of a Wu Tang listening party, and you
could kind of indirectly get the answer through that.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Okay, We asked the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern
District in New York if anyone listened to the album them,
and they said no comment.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I mean, I suspect that just their policy is just
always going to be no comment. But that really kind
of feels like if they were going to deny it,
they would have said no.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It's the equivalent Matt of a Glomar response.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Is it is exactly a Glomar response.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
There's actually a stipulation in the purchase agreement that says
at closing, the buyer could play quote.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
At least the first ten seconds of each track, but
they had to bring their own CD player. Look, we're
not giving you the CD player.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And that's funny because I know the government has a
lot of CD players because they're always producing US documents
on CDs.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
So it sounds like they followed through. There's an email
from an attorney with the Marshalls asking for a meeting
room with an electrical outlet so the buyer can plug
in their CD player.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I guess it's fair right, like they don't want to
get home, Like, what the hell? This thing doesn't work?
I can't even play in the government's like sorry, buyer, beware,
you're out of luck.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Or if it skips right skip and this is kind
of interesting, so pleaseer now is bound by the same
restrictions as Screlley was when he purchased the album. Right,
they can't stream it or duplicate it until two thousand,
one hundred and three. That sounds like way far in
the future. Last year, however, they found a workaround. Following
(31:19):
discussions with the original artists and producer, the album was
turned into an NFT and for the equivalent of a dollar,
fans can listen to a five minute sampler of Once
Upon a Time in shell In. Each sale will speed
up the release of the album by eighty eight seconds.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Eighty eight seconds, okay, So how much would it cost
to speed it up by a year? Then?
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Okay, we actually did this math. It would cost more
than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to speed up
the release of Once Upon a Time in shell In
by one year.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
WHOA, so have you heard it?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I didn't buy a sample with bitcoin, but Screlly did
make a video of himself playing the record.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Let me play at least a little bit of that's
the intro.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I guess you can get a little bit of check
to to when it sounds theatrical, like you're getting ready
for something big.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
It definitely sounds like wu tang. I mean, I could
see it in a movie mission impossible, But watching it
with Shrelly's reaction to it is so distracting and disturbing,
like he's bobbing his head in the haircut like he's
a keeper. Help.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
You know. My advice is to close your eyes and
just do not look at Screlly while listening to this.
But this was a pretty amazing use of foy if
I do say so myself patting myself on the back here,
it felt like we really knocked down some walls here.
That's you know that the government put up trade secrets,
(33:01):
which didn't make sense to me at least, you know,
getting over that hurdle to obtain the purchase price and
then the name of the corporate entity that then bought
it and then sold it immediately sold it to another entity.
It's kind of amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And we learned that Foye is so broad it can
even get you records about a one of a kind
Wu Tang album that ended up in the hands of
a farmer bro and then ended up in the hands
of the government, who sold it so that the farmer
bro could pay off what he owes for the damage
he caused. That's the power of FOYA. And if it
wasn't clear already, Dox rule everything around us.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Boy, your boy, your request, y'all. Hey open Mike Ego.
By the way, what do you think about all this did?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Further emphasizes how dumb this all is. That there's a
two million dollar Woo Sang album, some weird guy bought it,
and that weird guy went to jail, and now the
government is selling it to people and he won't tell
you who they sold it to. It's all very stupid,
and there's real problems in the world that I wish
these millions of dollars could be addressing somehow instead of
the government doing a weird deal with a secret album
(34:06):
that's probably not even good.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
And there you have it from Bloomberg and no smiling.
This is disclosure. The show is hosted by Matt Topic
and me Jason Leopold, It's produced by Heather Schroering and
Sean Cannon. For No Smiling, our editor for Bloomberg is
Jeff Grocott. Our executive producers for Bloomberg are Sage Bauman
(34:29):
and me Jason Leopold, and our executive producers for No
Smiling are Sean Cannon, Heather Schroering and Matt Topic. The
disclosure theme song is by Nick, with additional music by Nick.
An Epidemic sound, sound design and mixing is by Sean Cannon.
Emails were read this week by open Mic Eagle. For
(34:50):
more transparency news and important document thumps, you can subscribe
to my Weeklyfoya Files newsletter at Bloomberg dot com slash
Foya Files. That's Foia Files. To get every episode early
on Apple podcasts. Become a Bloomberg dot com subscriber today.
Check out our special intro offer right now at Bloomberg
(35:11):
dot com Slash podcast offer, or click the link in
the show notes. You'll also unlock deep reporting data and
analysis from reporters around the world.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
We'll see you again next Tuesday, Boy, you get the
records
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