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'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli had $7 million of his assets seized when he was sent to prison — and people are arguing over who gets the first slice

Martin Shkreli
Martin Shkreli talking to Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network. AP Photo/Richard Drew

  • Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud earlier this year.
  • A court ordered him to forfeit $7.36 million in assets as part of his punishment.
  • Those assets include a Wu-Tang Clan album and Picasso painting.
  • The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state of New York are currently fighting over who gets the assets first.
  • Shkreli owes both of those authorities money, having failed to pay his taxes in full.
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The IRS and the state of New York are fighting over who gets first access to the $7.36 million worth of assets Martin Shkreli has been ordered to forfeit.

Shkreli, a millionaire pharmaceutical CEO nicknamed the "Pharma Bro," was told by a judge to forfeit the holdings upon being sent to prison for seven years over securities fraud earlier this year.

Those assets include the sole copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album, worth $2 million, Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V" album, and an unspecified Picasso painting.

Shkreli owes the IRS $1,695,397 after he "failed, neglected, or refused to pay in full the liability for the income tax year 2015," according to court papers cited by the New York Post.

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He also owes the state of New York $480,000 from a $1.2 million state tax bill, which he failed to pay in full.

Both the IRS and New York state are demanding to be paid first, with their lawyers claiming that the tax bills came before Shkreli's March sentencing and forfeiture order.

martin shkreli
Martin Shkreli tried to sell his Wu-Tang Clan album last September. martishkrel_7/Ebay

Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison in March after he was found guilty of committing securities fraud while he was in charge of hedge funds earlier in his career.

Prosecutors argued that from 2009, Shkreli lost money in two hedge funds he ran, hid that from his investors, and instead paid them back with money from a third company he owned, Retrophin.

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Shkreli is best known for a 2015 price-gouging scandal in which he raised the price Daraprim, a drug used to treat a parasitic infection, by more than 5,000%. The US prescription-drug industry remains plagued by high costs.

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