Notorious pharma bro Martin Shkreli was the mysterious buyer of the exclusive Wu Tang album

Shkreli heard about Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and thought it would be nice to own, too. He attended a private listening session at the Standard Hotel hosted by (auction company) Paddle8 co-founder Alexander Gilkes. Shkreli, who describes himself as a bit of a recluse, recalls Gilkes telling him that if he bought the record, he would have the opportunity to rub shoulders with celebrities and rappers who would want to hear it. ‘Then I really became convinced that I should be the buyer,’ Shkreli says.

Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, refused to say how much he paid, but Bloomberg says he bought it for $2 million, citing “a source close to the deal.”

In a statement, Wu Tang co-founder RZA made it clear the deal went down “well before (Shkreli’s) business practices came to light.”

“We decided to give a significant portion of the proceeds to charity,” RZA added.

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.