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Speaker 1: I gotta be honest. I never thought I'd be doing

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Speaker 1: a lawsuit about a single copy of a Wu Tang record.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I love this story and how the album ends

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Speaker 2: up in the hands of the US marshals and it

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Speaker 2: just sits there in a vault for like two years.

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Speaker 2: Cue the music. I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold. I spend

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Speaker 2: most of my days getting documents from the government.

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Speaker 1: I'm attorney Matt Tapik, and I fight them in court

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Speaker 1: to open their files when they don't want to.

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Speaker 2: From Bloomberg and no smiling. This is Disclosure, a podcast

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Speaker 2: about buying loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act,

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Speaker 2: and the unexpected places that takes us. Matt, what T

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Speaker 2: shirt you wearing today?

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Speaker 1: I've warned this thing a thousand times.

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Speaker 2: It's a bacon mobile. Bacon mobile. Nice, It's like a

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Speaker 2: food truck looking thing. It says, a bacon mobile one dollar.

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Speaker 1: So. Prices have gone up quite a bit on bacon

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Speaker 1: since I got this shirt.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they have also the health risks as well. Matt, Oh,

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Speaker 2: don't believe that. What do you say that this T

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Speaker 2: shirt is like amazing? Is it the quality of the shirt,

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Speaker 2: the material? Yes, there were instances in my life where

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Speaker 2: I would find a shirt that I loved, and it's

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Speaker 2: usually a band T shirt that was so comfortable that

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Speaker 2: I have to buy two in case the one got ripped.

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Speaker 1: This is one of those.

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Speaker 2: And the funny thing about this weird tick that I

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Speaker 2: had of needing two of everything and how it relates

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Speaker 2: to the foyer, is that back in the day, agencies

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Speaker 2: would say to me when they're conducting a search, Hey,

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Speaker 2: do you mind if we remove the duplicates, like duplicate emails,

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Speaker 2: And I'm like, yes, I mind. I want two of everything,

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Speaker 2: So like two of everything, even like extended to whatever.

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Speaker 2: Like they're telling me, like, may take longer. I'm like,

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Speaker 2: but I want both. I need to have two of everything.

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Speaker 2: I finally, you needed someone to tell me, like, listen,

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Speaker 2: you're not going to miss anything. If you tell them

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Speaker 2: to remove, it's not going to break. But for some reason,

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Speaker 2: it was just like, no, I want both. You're deeply distrustful.

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Speaker 2: That's very true, as you should be. It's your job,

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Speaker 2: which is why we fought as hard and long as

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Speaker 2: we did against the government to get that bill of

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Speaker 2: sale that showed finally how much the government sold Once

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Speaker 2: upon a Time in Shellin. For do we need like

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Speaker 2: a drum roll?

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Speaker 1: Drum roll? No, not for Wu Tang, we need like

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Speaker 1: a record scratch. Hey on, let's do the backstory first.

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Speaker 1: Can we start with what is Once upon a Time

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Speaker 1: in Shallin?

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Speaker 2: Okay? So the Justice Department didn't get his hands on

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Speaker 2: some used Wu Tang CD. This album Once upon a

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Speaker 2: Time in shall In wasn't just rare, it was singular,

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Speaker 2: a creature of myth in an age of mass production.

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Speaker 2: It's Riza, the architect of the Wu Tang clan, wanted

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Speaker 2: the album to be treated like a sacred artifact. It

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Speaker 2: was a way to restore value to music by making

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Speaker 2: it scarce, untouchable. In his view, people only truly value

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Speaker 2: what they can have.

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Speaker 1: We've only made one copy and and it's gonna you

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Speaker 1: got to go to a museum to hear it.

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Speaker 2: The album's creation defied every convention of the music industry.

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Speaker 2: No labels, no corporate fingerprints. It was all a shadow

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Speaker 2: operation known only to Rizza and the producer, not even

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Speaker 2: other Wu Tang members. I didn't know anything about anything,

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Speaker 2: not method Man, not ghost face Killer. That was never

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Speaker 2: really know what I Over six years, the album took

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Speaker 2: shape in fragments recorded mostly in Staten Island, forged in Marrakech,

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Speaker 2: and finally pressed into a double disc set sealed inside

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Speaker 2: a vault at one of Africa's finest hotels. This was

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Speaker 2: Rizza's Phantom Treasure. Thirty one tracks. Every member of Wu

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Speaker 2: Tang on the record, with guest appearances from Redman, a

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Speaker 2: few FC Barcelona players, and apparently the Goddess of pop.

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Speaker 2: That voice sounds familiar, yes, a.

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Speaker 1: Little bit like share.

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Speaker 2: Apparently because very few people have heard the album, and

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Speaker 2: that's the point. In March twenty fourteen, Riza announced that

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Speaker 2: he was about to put out an album like no

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Speaker 2: one had ever done in the history of modern music.

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Speaker 2: It's like the Illis package right there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the Hillis album covering the history of the world.

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Speaker 2: The plan was for once upon a time in Shaolin

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Speaker 2: to disappear into private hands, sold to a single chosen bidder.

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Speaker 2: Its new master would be bound by an oath of silence.

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Speaker 2: Only the owner or those summoned to private, heavily guarded

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Speaker 2: listening rituals would ever hear it. No recordings, no leaks,

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Speaker 2: no exceptions. The album wouldn't be released publicly for eighty

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Speaker 2: eight years. Once the world got wind of Once upon

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Speaker 2: a Time in shall In it indeed became a living legend.

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Speaker 2: A guy from Forbes flew to Morocco to be one

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Speaker 2: of the first to hear the record before it got

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Speaker 2: auctioned off. I'm going to drive about one hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty miles to Marrakesh, and then I'm going to go

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Speaker 2: into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains to hear part

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Speaker 2: of the Wu Tang plant's new secret album at a

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Speaker 2: MoMA PS one unveiling. Roughly one hundred and fifty hand

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Speaker 2: picked guests endured tsa level security, surrendering phones, passing double

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Speaker 2: metal detector scans, and facing guards checking for bugs just

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Speaker 2: to hear a thirteen minute excerpt of the album, which

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Speaker 2: by the way, was locked behind velvet ropes and hulking

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Speaker 2: security men.

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Speaker 3: We are all in the very privileged situation to witness

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Speaker 3: the first, the last, and the only public listening session

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Speaker 3: of Once Upon a Time in Shao Lein.

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Speaker 2: But not everyone was so enthusiastic about the record. Fans

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Speaker 2: were upset that they couldn't hear it. Other Wu Tang

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Speaker 2: members agreed, and many of them felt shut out of

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Speaker 2: the project entirely they took issue with the idea of

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Speaker 2: their music being locked away like a private treasure, not

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Speaker 2: to mention how the producer went about the project.

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Speaker 1: Everybody else just got paid whenever they got paid for

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Speaker 1: their feature.

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Speaker 2: But you accept me that you're gonna build the album

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Speaker 2: around it. That's the sneaky. That's ghost Face Killer on

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Speaker 2: the bootleg keV podcast saying he didn't know his track

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Speaker 2: would be turned into a secret Wu Tang Clan album

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Speaker 2: and sold for millions without the group being cut in.

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Speaker 2: Didn't y'all gonna do that? It didn't even bring nobody off.

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Speaker 2: Do you show that for that much? I'll be honest

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Speaker 2: with you. I do like Wu Tang Clan and I

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Speaker 2: thought it was just wow, that's interesting. But it wasn't

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Speaker 2: until they auctioned it off and then finding out who

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Speaker 2: the buyer was where it suddenly became a little bit

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Speaker 2: more interesting to me.

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Speaker 1: Bill Ball comes on, right, is that Rizza?

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Speaker 2: That's Riza on an interview series build and he.

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Speaker 1: Goes, hey, you guys, hear about this comeback and it's

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Speaker 1: ma scurelly like.

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Speaker 3: Wait a minute, hey baby, that's the guy that bought

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Speaker 3: the album.

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Speaker 2: So Martin Screlly is the farmer Bro, the farmer.

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Speaker 1: Bro, farmer Bro, the notorious farmer Bro. He's best known

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Speaker 1: as the farmer Bro Martin Screlly.

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Speaker 2: If I was aware of that, I may have every

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Speaker 2: different approach to put that in his head. And I

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Speaker 2: want to describe him.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to look and see how the Internet has

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Speaker 1: described him. I mean, I immediately found on Reddit Screlly

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Speaker 1: is a piece of that raised prescription drug prices thousands

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Speaker 1: of percent. He's also been called a moor Ley bankrupt sociopath,

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Speaker 1: a garbage monster, and everything that's wrong with capitalism.

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Speaker 2: And why is he hated?

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Speaker 3: Well, tonight, the head of a drug company who's accused

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Speaker 3: of gouging patients says he should be thanked.

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Speaker 2: I don't really care about people hating me. He was

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Speaker 2: a farmer executive and a hedge fund manager. He had

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Speaker 2: this company and this is what earned him that notorious

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Speaker 2: nickname farmer Bro. He jacked up the price of this

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Speaker 2: life saving drug by like five thousand percent. There's no

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Speaker 2: excuse from going from thirteen dollars and fifty cents to

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Speaker 2: seven hundred and fifty dollars for one pill.

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Speaker 1: This is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules

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Speaker 1: and my investors expect me to baximize profits.

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Speaker 2: People started calling him the most hated man in America.

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Speaker 1: What do you say to that signal pregnant woman who

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Speaker 1: might have aids she needs terre prihim in order to survive.

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Speaker 2: He had testified before Congress about the drug, the price

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Speaker 2: of what he raised. He was very, very smug.

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Speaker 4: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment

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Speaker 4: privilege against self incrimination.

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Speaker 2: Then he was charged with securities fraud, nothing to do

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Speaker 2: with any price gouging, but for defrauding investors in his

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Speaker 2: hedge fund. Busy guy. People hated him, They had choice

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Speaker 2: words for him, and anyway along the way, he purchased

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Speaker 2: Once upon a Time in Shallon. What did you think

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Speaker 2: the first time you listened to it? He was mad,

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Speaker 2: but I don't think it was ever about the music,

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Speaker 2: not exactly thirty six shapers.

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Speaker 1: So he wins the auction and he pays for the

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Speaker 1: album with drug blood money basically, oh man, So how

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Speaker 1: much exactly did he pay for it? Most reports put

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Speaker 1: it out two million Shtrelli himself has said one point

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Speaker 1: five million. So how did the government get the album?

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Speaker 2: Eventually gets to a point where they put him in jail.

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Speaker 2: He's convicted of securities fraud, has a seven year sentence,

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Speaker 2: and as part of that, the government seesed a bunch

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Speaker 2: of his assets, including Once upon a Time in Shallon.

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Speaker 1: After he's convicted of securities fraud, he owes a bunch

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Speaker 1: of restitution and then they seize his assets order to

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Speaker 1: pay back the victims.

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Speaker 2: Is that the idea exactly?

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Speaker 1: I got to say, as a piece of performance art,

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Speaker 1: if that's what you look at the album is, it's

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Speaker 1: doing pretty good right now?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Right?

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Speaker 1: It ends up in the hands of this crazy guy

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Speaker 1: and then it gets seized by the federal government right

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Speaker 1: in an asset seizure to pay off the guy's restitution. Like,

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Speaker 1: I mean, how amazing is that. You couldn't have made

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Speaker 1: a better storyline for this album.

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Speaker 2: It's amazing. So they seize this album and that's kind

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Speaker 2: of the last thing we hear about it for probably

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Speaker 2: about three, you know, over three years.

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Speaker 1: So what's going on in the summer I move twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one, Jason, that causes you to make this request?

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Speaker 2: There was so much secrecy around this. What was happening

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Speaker 2: at that time was the Justice Department and the US

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Speaker 2: marshals had this joint announcement where they sold once upon

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Speaker 2: a time in Shoulin to whom. They didn't say who

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Speaker 2: they sold it to. But here's what the announcement said,

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Speaker 2: read by rapper and comedian open Mike Eagle, the contract

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Speaker 2: of sale contains a confidentiality provision that protects information relating

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Speaker 2: to the buyer and price. It was that secret. So

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Speaker 2: I followed requests with the DOJ Criminal Division after the announcement,

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Speaker 2: and they were taking an unnecessarily long time to respond.

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Speaker 2: I sent this to you because I wanted to sue.

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Speaker 1: Well, you wanted your records and you realized it was

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Speaker 1: going to take a lawsuit to get it. I assume

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Speaker 1: you didn't just like want to sue.

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Speaker 2: Why would you assume that I was just trying to

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Speaker 2: make you sound good, buddy. But let's fine.

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Speaker 1: Jason enjoys the combat, yes, Matt, I enjoy the government

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Speaker 1: fulfilling their duty to release records that below to the public,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes that takes a lawsuit. Okay, fair enough, let

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Speaker 1: me read the email.

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Speaker 2: Start us up, buddy, all right?

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Speaker 1: I get an email from Jason about a request that

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Speaker 1: he made to the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.

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Speaker 1: I request disclosure from the Asset Recovery Section in the

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Speaker 1: Office of the Criminal Division for the following records. One.

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Speaker 1: A copy of the receipt of sale of the album

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Speaker 1: Once Upon a Time In shall In by the recording

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Speaker 1: group Wu Tang Clan. A copy of the contract in

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Speaker 1: returns of sale by the Government of Once Upon a

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Speaker 1: Time in shall In any and all photographs in video,

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Speaker 1: and possession of the Asset Recovery Section of Once Upon

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Speaker 1: a Time In shallon any, all legal memos, opinions and

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Speaker 1: guidance provided to the Asset Recovery Section related or referring

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Speaker 1: to the sale of Once Upon a Time in shall In,

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Speaker 1: and just a bunch of other communications about all this stuff.

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Speaker 1: This is like the most formal email I've ever gotten

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Speaker 1: from you. May I have some lawsuits?

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Speaker 2: Please please, sir? Can I? It's not even any profanity

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Speaker 2: in this anyway? So we filew the lawsuit and in

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Speaker 2: only a few short months I actually did get some records,

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Speaker 2: which is surprising because sometimes it can take years before

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Speaker 2: we'll see anything. It's January twenty twenty two and the

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Speaker 2: first batch of records hits my inbox. And what's the

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Speaker 2: first thing that catches my eye photos. There are photos

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Speaker 2: of the mythical Once upon a Time in shall Lin

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Speaker 2: take a look at these photos, Matt? What do you see? So?

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Speaker 1: The first thing I see is this black box with

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Speaker 1: a Wu Tang insignia on tap that kind of looks

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Speaker 1: like a large cigar humidor.

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Speaker 2: It's not just a black box. It's a cedar wood

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Speaker 2: box covered in black cow leather with light beige velvet lining.

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Speaker 2: According to the asset list.

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Speaker 1: Looking at this, someone has not taken very good care

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Speaker 1: of this. It's like scratched up. It looks like there's

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00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,960
Speaker 1: like cigarette ash on it. Like I don't know what

250
00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:58,280
Speaker 1: this thing's been through, but I don't think mister Scrilly

251
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Speaker 1: just put this in like somewhre re safe keeping, like

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Speaker 1: it's a little worn for wear.

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Speaker 2: What's inside the box?

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Speaker 1: So you open up the box and then there's another

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Speaker 1: box inside that is like gold and it's got really

256
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Speaker 1: sort of intricate patterns on it, and another Wu tang

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Speaker 1: it's singing on top of it.

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Speaker 2: It's a nickel silver box and an inner jewel case

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00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:27,079
Speaker 2: containing two CDs over cedar wood with black cow leather lining.

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Speaker 2: To be precise, this one looks like.

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Speaker 1: It's maybe gotten a little bit of use to.

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Speaker 2: These descriptions are so damn sexy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's real sexy.

264
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,520
Speaker 2: Wait if there's also a leather battle lyric book that

265
00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:43,480
Speaker 2: looks like it came from Jandolf yet totally.

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Speaker 1: It's like, got this like medieval kind of like leather

267
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,839
Speaker 1: look with some fancy metalwork on it.

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Speaker 2: And look, the certificate of purchase has its own book.

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Speaker 1: You've got a gold certificate with some insignias on it.

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00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:58,920
Speaker 1: And then it looks like we've got like a wax imprint,

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Speaker 1: something that would have been used hundreds of years ago.

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Speaker 2: What does it say, Matt.

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Speaker 1: Dear mister Martin Screlley, here by your purchase certificate from Squoze.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations on your purchase. Right, Martin Screlly's name is now

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Speaker 1: permanently associated with this album. For just one point five

276
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Speaker 1: million dollars, hip hop culture could be yours.

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Speaker 2: But I wanted to know how much the DOJ sold

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Speaker 2: it for more on that after the break, So I

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00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,680
Speaker 2: get the first batch of records and they are incredible.

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Speaker 2: The majority of good fifty pages are just photos. I'm

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Speaker 2: seeing once upon a time and shell in for the

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00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,200
Speaker 2: first time. But how much did the government auction it

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00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,360
Speaker 2: off for I was dying to know. And right there

284
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,840
Speaker 2: before my eyes at the end of the batch of

285
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Speaker 2: records is the purchase agreement. I was about to find

286
00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:58,680
Speaker 2: out there toward the bottom purchase price quote, the price

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00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:05,400
Speaker 2: is redacted. They redacted the price. But wait, the very

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00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:12,359
Speaker 2: last page the United States Marshals bill of sale quote. Now, therefore,

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Speaker 2: and in consideration of the payment of the sum of

290
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:22,880
Speaker 2: redacted the reason for trade secrets, Matt, can you explain that?

291
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,000
Speaker 1: So there's an exemption in FOYA that says the government

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00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,520
Speaker 1: isn't required to release trade secret kind of information that

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00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,440
Speaker 1: they receive from people or companies in the course of

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Speaker 1: doing government stuff. So the government's argument is that this

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00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,160
Speaker 1: is a trade secret and they're not supposed to release it.

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Speaker 1: But our counter to that was basically that the buyer

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Speaker 1: had already publicly announced.

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Speaker 2: What they paid for it. Right In October twenty twenty one,

299
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,480
Speaker 2: The New York Times revealed that the new owners of

300
00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,240
Speaker 2: Once Upon a Time in Shell in, a digital art

301
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:58,880
Speaker 2: and crypto collective known as Pleaser Dow, had paid the

302
00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:03,640
Speaker 2: equivalent of four million dollars in a cryptocurrency tied to

303
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,440
Speaker 2: the dollar for the album according to the story, please

304
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,360
Speaker 2: are now obtained it through an intermediary, which then paid

305
00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,440
Speaker 2: the government. I wanted to see if the bill of

306
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,240
Speaker 2: sale back that up, so I was furious. The people

307
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,160
Speaker 2: absolutely deserve to know what their government is off to,

308
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,360
Speaker 2: how much they're auctioning off for. But it would take

309
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,800
Speaker 2: another three years to find out why because there was

310
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,160
Speaker 2: still more records to come, and I couldn't challenge the

311
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,600
Speaker 2: exemptions until all records were in. What happened next was

312
00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:37,200
Speaker 2: at times illuminating, other times it was maddening. I get

313
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,840
Speaker 2: the next batch of records nearly four months later. I

314
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:42,200
Speaker 2: opened them up and they appear to be emails between

315
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Speaker 2: the attorneys Matt and open Mike Eagle want to read them.

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00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:50,280
Speaker 2: So this is an email thread titled Screlly Update Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: fourteen July twenty twenty one, twelve twenty oh one.

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Speaker 4: Hi Jackie and Alex rejected. Then another reduction it's even bigger,

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00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,040
Speaker 4: thanks Laura. And then we've got another part of the

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Speaker 4: email from Claire that says dear Jackie and Alex, and

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00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,800
Speaker 4: it's an even bigger redacted box. So we know who's talking,

322
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:08,800
Speaker 4: but we have no idea what they're saying. Because they've

323
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,440
Speaker 4: rejected it all based on some Foyer exemptions.

324
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Speaker 2: The government stripped out all the behind the scenes discussions

325
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,560
Speaker 2: that were taking place in emails that would kind of

326
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:24,880
Speaker 2: give us a window into how they were managing and

327
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,840
Speaker 2: setting up the sale of the album. And this is

328
00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,080
Speaker 2: kind of how it went for a few months. I'd

329
00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:34,359
Speaker 2: get a slow trickle of records and inside was nothing much,

330
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,600
Speaker 2: but a few things were kind of hilarious. So here's

331
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Speaker 2: an email from one of the attorneys at the US

332
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,840
Speaker 2: Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The

333
00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:48,360
Speaker 2: subject line is Screlly Wu Tang Clan album and Picasso.

334
00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:52,399
Speaker 3: All earlier this morning and following yesterday's denial of Screlley's

335
00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,720
Speaker 3: cert petition, the Marshalls took custody of the Wu Tang

336
00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,919
Speaker 3: Clan album and Picasso sketch that he owned.

337
00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:04,200
Speaker 2: Then somebody responds to that email and says, today's call.

338
00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:06,359
Speaker 3: Focused on the album only. We will follow up to

339
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,400
Speaker 3: discuss the Picasso, which is worth far less. It's more

340
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:12,359
Speaker 3: like a sketch, and I believe it was a praise

341
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,120
Speaker 3: to being worth less than thirty thousand dollars. It's more

342
00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,200
Speaker 3: like a sketch Wu Tang's single copy album is worth

343
00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:22,199
Speaker 3: more than a Picasso sketch, eh. I mean, you know,

344
00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,520
Speaker 3: I'm not an art collector. That seems kind of low

345
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,600
Speaker 3: to me for a Picasso sketch. But he's got like

346
00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:29,440
Speaker 3: a million of them.

347
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:31,360
Speaker 1: You know, this is the only copy. I mean, it's

348
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,800
Speaker 1: kind of a brilliant idea. Right, they make an album,

349
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:35,960
Speaker 1: they make one copy of it, it's going to be worth,

350
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:38,040
Speaker 1: you know, a fair amount.

351
00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:40,840
Speaker 2: He also had a copy of the Carter five by

352
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,000
Speaker 2: Lil Wayne, and they considered seizing that too, but we

353
00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:46,199
Speaker 2: never got how much that's worth. I don't know what

354
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,440
Speaker 2: that is. You got to leave that part in where

355
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,080
Speaker 2: Matt says, I don't know what that is. So these

356
00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:55,320
Speaker 2: records were interesting just in terms of getting a little

357
00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:59,240
Speaker 2: understanding on how they were communicating behind the scenes. There

358
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,280
Speaker 2: were some emails about prospective buyers, and this one is

359
00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:06,479
Speaker 2: kind of funny. It's from an attorney representing an interested buyer.

360
00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,080
Speaker 3: Hi, Claire and Laura, I just wanted to let you

361
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,080
Speaker 3: know that my client is still interested in buying at

362
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:13,720
Speaker 3: one million dollars.

363
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,639
Speaker 2: To be clear, he doesn't have.

364
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,680
Speaker 3: One million dollars right now, but things he could raise

365
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,840
Speaker 3: it in a realutable amount of time. Please let me

366
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,160
Speaker 3: know if there's any interest or also, please do make

367
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,960
Speaker 3: a counter offer if you have one, Thanks best, redacted.

368
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:33,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he's going to have to do better

369
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,920
Speaker 1: than that. That's not even close to what Screlly paid. Yeah,

370
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,240
Speaker 1: this is like a classic low ball. Hey, I'm giving

371
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:44,400
Speaker 1: you this garbage offer, but please counter As somebody who

372
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:46,720
Speaker 1: negotiates all the time, that's always kind of annoying, like,

373
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:48,080
Speaker 1: come on, give me a real offer.

374
00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:51,239
Speaker 2: And then there's this one from an attorney in the

375
00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,639
Speaker 2: Isset Forfeiture unit asking for a background check on a

376
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,520
Speaker 2: potential buyer who QUO may have a large wallet. Large

377
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:00,680
Speaker 2: in all caps.

378
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,960
Speaker 3: It says, Hi, Will, could you please look into both

379
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:06,520
Speaker 3: redacted and let me know if there are any red

380
00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,199
Speaker 3: flags that would raise concerns or due diligence, criminal history,

381
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 3: issues with dirty funds, et cetera, any indication that they

382
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 3: could have a conflict of interest with Martin Screlly.

383
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 2: Thanks. At least from what we saw, there's no one

384
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:24,320
Speaker 2: discussing holy crap. We got Wu Tang clan Once upon

385
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,879
Speaker 2: a time in Shaolin. We got to go, you know,

386
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,800
Speaker 2: have a listening party. It was really centered on business,

387
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,120
Speaker 2: on legal business. The closest we get to any kind

388
00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,360
Speaker 2: of excitement about the record is this email between two

389
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,560
Speaker 2: assistant US attorneys on the case when they're getting close

390
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:42,640
Speaker 2: to closing a deal.

391
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,240
Speaker 3: I'm going to wear my shaolin lid.

392
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:47,240
Speaker 2: What is it?

393
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:51,480
Speaker 3: Shaolin lid for good luck all week? Dot dot dot

394
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,800
Speaker 3: exclamation point.

395
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:57,040
Speaker 1: Like a hat. Yeah, I mean that's what's coming to

396
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 1: mind for me. I actually looked up shaolin lid and

397
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: didn't find much on Google. Shallin has been part of

398
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,960
Speaker 1: the Wu Tang mythology all along.

399
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:08,959
Speaker 2: But Shallin lid, I mean, I don't know.

400
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:10,679
Speaker 1: He's gotta be talking about a hat.

401
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,480
Speaker 2: She's gotta be talking about a hat. But you can't

402
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,399
Speaker 2: tell if their ascitement is because they're interested in the

403
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 2: record or if they're just ready to be done with Screlley.

404
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,760
Speaker 2: There's one email while the attorneys are shoring up loose

405
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,520
Speaker 2: ends with the sale, when one comment.

406
00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,359
Speaker 3: Hopefully this will mean the end of all things screlly

407
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 3: for us exclamation point.

408
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:32,720
Speaker 2: In the end.

409
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,000
Speaker 1: It all kept the end, and by July twenty twenty one,

410
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,639
Speaker 1: the assistant US attorneys seem to relish a little hardball

411
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:43,679
Speaker 1: from a judge presiding over yet another case, one in

412
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:44,520
Speaker 1: civil court.

413
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 2: Screlly was involved in. The subject says.

414
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,359
Speaker 3: See attached decisions from Judge Nathan looks like she isn't

415
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 3: going to tolerate any more delays.

416
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,720
Speaker 2: From Screlly, and the email reads it's about time someone

417
00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:58,400
Speaker 2: stopped tolerating his nonsense.

418
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 1: Also, that's a ridiculously long subject line. It's like two sentences.

419
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,680
Speaker 2: I mean, basically they put the body of the email

420
00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:05,480
Speaker 2: in the subject line.

421
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 1: It's a little invasive to the inbox in my opinion.

422
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:13,480
Speaker 2: So during the course of this litigation, you know, we

423
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,560
Speaker 2: got to a point where it was kind of interesting

424
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,600
Speaker 2: at first, but certainly the redactions didn't help, and it

425
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,600
Speaker 2: became just boring and I'm not really getting what I need.

426
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 2: And to make matters worse, after a year of document dumps,

427
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 2: the government tells us we're not even close to the end.

428
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,960
Speaker 2: They miraculously found ten thousand more emails. I don't know

429
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,959
Speaker 2: how you misplace those, but I'm getting about one hundred

430
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 2: at a time, and it could be years before I

431
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,920
Speaker 2: could challenge the redactions. So I did something I've never

432
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 2: done before. That's after the break. So I wanted to

433
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,400
Speaker 2: get everything I wanted to know how much the government

434
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,479
Speaker 2: auctioned the album off, for who they sold it to,

435
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,399
Speaker 2: the name of the corporate entity that purchased the album,

436
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,479
Speaker 2: pretty much everything, but they were withholding and so I

437
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,200
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, I'm done with these emails. They're really

438
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,600
Speaker 2: not telling me anything. I said, let's just move forward

439
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,639
Speaker 2: with getting what I want. I told my attorneys that

440
00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 2: I was willing to give up the rest of the

441
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 2: emails so they could challenge what we believed was the

442
00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 2: agency's improper use of the trade secrets and privacy exemptions.

443
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:29,280
Speaker 2: And so we entered into negotiations, you know, with the government,

444
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 2: and the government maintained that this person had a privacy

445
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,359
Speaker 2: interest and that his or her name, you know, would

446
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 2: not be disclosed. Making a long story short, you know,

447
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 2: got to an agreement that basically the government said if

448
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 2: I didn't pursue the name of the individual buyer, meaning

449
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 2: like if I were to just drop that, they would

450
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 2: give us the name of the corporate entity that purchased

451
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,720
Speaker 2: the album as well as the purchase price. And I

452
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 2: thought that that was a good deal one because I figured, like, Okay,

453
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,160
Speaker 2: if I get the name of the corporate entity, then

454
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 2: maybe I could use that to kind of chase down

455
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 2: who the buyer is, who actually purchased the album.

456
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: But once we came to the decision like okay, we

457
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 1: want to like give up this to get that, I

458
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: don't think that was more than weeks or maybe like

459
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 1: a few months.

460
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:25,919
Speaker 2: So finally in July twenty twenty five, it came the

461
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 2: purchase agreement with a lot of redactions lifted. This asset purchase.

462
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,680
Speaker 3: Agreement is made as of July nineteenth, twenty twenty one,

463
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,879
Speaker 3: by the United States Marshall Service four and on behalf

464
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 3: of the United States of America and redacted and WTC

465
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,160
Speaker 3: Endeavors Limited, a Hong Kong Limited company.

466
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 2: And then scrolling down it says purchase price. So the

467
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 2: government sold the album.

468
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 3: For two million, two hundred and thirty eight, four hundred

469
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 3: and eighty two dollars and thirty cents for the assets.

470
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,440
Speaker 2: And purchasers will also reimburse the US Marshall Service for

471
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 2: its expenses in.

472
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,400
Speaker 3: The amount of seven thousand, one hundred and sixty two

473
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 3: dollars and twenty seven cents, for a total payment of

474
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 3: two million, two hundred and forty five thousand, six hundred

475
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 3: and forty four dollars and fifty seven cents.

476
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 2: That's what the government withheld under trade secrets for Genius

477
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 2: for more than three years.

478
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: How did they get to that number?

479
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,639
Speaker 2: So it's interesting and a good question. And what I

480
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 2: discovered was is that they basically were just looking to

481
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 2: sell the album to cover what he owed the government.

482
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: But might it not have been worth more than that? Well,

483
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 1: if there was more money to be had, it might

484
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 1: be that that's money that would have to go to screlly.

485
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,360
Speaker 1: It's like if you're in foreclosure on your house. If

486
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,159
Speaker 1: you owe like one hundred thousand in your house is

487
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 1: worth three hundred thousand. I don't think the bank and

488
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 1: most states gets to just like pocket the other two

489
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. But I'm not a specialist in the sale

490
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:10,400
Speaker 1: of one of a kind albums to satisfy government debts.

491
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 2: In total, Shcrelli old the government more than seven million,

492
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 2: and the album satisfied the outstanding balance. That's what I thought.

493
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 1: So that invites an inquiry into whether they really got

494
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 1: as much for it as they could have, because you

495
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: could see how they don't really have a whole lot

496
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 1: of incentive to get any more money for it than

497
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,119
Speaker 1: whatever it is to satisfy the judgment. If the money's

498
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: just going to go back to Screlly, the guy who's

499
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,800
Speaker 1: case they can't wait to be done with, and probably

500
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,920
Speaker 1: for good reason, then you know, that's why there's an

501
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 1: interest in knowing what the amount is, because I think

502
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 1: that's a fair thing to scrutinize on.

503
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,359
Speaker 2: So what we ended up with and the end was

504
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 2: the purchase price, and that was a big deal to

505
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 2: get that. I mean, it felt like, holy crap, we

506
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,879
Speaker 2: pride lose a significant amount of information. And by the way,

507
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,000
Speaker 2: the DOJ made it clear to us that please her Now,

508
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 2: the crypto collective that currently owns the album, wasn't connected

509
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 2: in any way to the corporate entity or the individual

510
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 2: who purchased the album. So I thought that was very

511
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,439
Speaker 2: interesting that please er Now was not the direct purchaser

512
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,679
Speaker 2: of any of this. So I found this, you know,

513
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 2: kind of fascinating. So the name of the company that

514
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,119
Speaker 2: was set up to purchase Once upon a Time in

515
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 2: Shaolan is WTC Endeavors Limited, Right, so assuming WTC and

516
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 2: Devor's limited at Wu Tang Clan Endeavors Limited, It's incorporated

517
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:35,640
Speaker 2: in Hong Kong in May twenty twenty, and then dissolved

518
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 2: in March twenty twenty three. So just through a little

519
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 2: slew thing, after we get the unredacted documents with the

520
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 2: purchase price, you know, we were able to see various

521
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,199
Speaker 2: officers who are affiliated with WTC endeavors, but none of

522
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 2: those names were well known. So to me, it appears

523
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 2: that the actual name of the person who bought Once

524
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 2: upon a Time I'm in shall Lynn is not even noteworthy.

525
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,399
Speaker 2: So the best read I have is that the Justice

526
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,439
Speaker 2: Department sold the album to someone we still don't know

527
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,160
Speaker 2: who for two point two million dollars, a bit more

528
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 2: than Screlly paid, and that person or entity basically turned

529
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 2: around and sold it again to please her now for

530
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 2: four million dollars worth of crypto. So that's not really

531
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:21,080
Speaker 2: a bad deal.

532
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 1: It sold for a fair amount more than Screlly paid

533
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 1: for it, right, like double.

534
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 2: Right, which is good for rizz.

535
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 3: I guess just like an appreciates like a house or something,

536
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 3: It's like it is more and more valuable with tom.

537
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 1: Now, do you think any curious people in the Justice

538
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 1: Department decided they would just go ahead and give it

539
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:37,200
Speaker 1: a little listen?

540
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, so that was part of like what I

541
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 2: was hoping that all of the emails that we obtained

542
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 2: through FOYA, through the lawsuit that we filed would actually yeah,

543
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 2: they would actually have someone inside DOJ saying hey, I

544
00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:00,120
Speaker 2: just listened to Wu Tang last night. Oh man, you

545
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 2: know what an incredible album. But no, luck, you didn't

546
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 2: need I mean, there were ten thousand more emails we

547
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 2: never got to see. But I will say to this day,

548
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 2: even though we do not have evidence that the government

549
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 2: through a listening party, you know, for once upon a

550
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 2: time in Sheldon the.

551
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: Saddest listening party that there ever was in the world.

552
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 2: I know, but I absolutely believe they listened to it.

553
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 2: Come on, I mean you could.

554
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 1: They could take the position of like, look, if we're

555
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: going to sell this asset, we have to listen to

556
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 1: it first so we know what we're selling right right,

557
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: you know, we need to make sure it's authentic.

558
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,160
Speaker 2: It's really Wu Tang. Yeah, of course they listen to it.

559
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,840
Speaker 2: By the way, we'll need to contact the OJAY and.

560
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: Ask them whether anyone listened to it.

561
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:41,080
Speaker 2: Whether anyone listened to it.

562
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 1: You could also ask, like any credit card receipts or

563
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 1: reimbursement for any food or beverages that were purchased for

564
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: the purposes of a Wu Tang listening party, and you

565
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: could kind of indirectly get the answer through that.

566
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 2: Okay, We asked the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern

567
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 2: District in New York if anyone listened to the album them,

568
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 2: and they said no comment.

569
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: I mean, I suspect that just their policy is just

570
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: always going to be no comment. But that really kind

571
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: of feels like if they were going to deny it,

572
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 1: they would have said no.

573
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 2: It's the equivalent Matt of a Glomar response.

574
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: Is it is exactly a Glomar response.

575
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 2: There's actually a stipulation in the purchase agreement that says

576
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 2: at closing, the buyer could play quote.

577
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 3: At least the first ten seconds of each track, but

578
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 3: they had to bring their own CD player. Look, we're

579
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:33,479
Speaker 3: not giving you the CD player.

580
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: And that's funny because I know the government has a

581
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 1: lot of CD players because they're always producing US documents

582
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 1: on CDs.

583
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 2: So it sounds like they followed through. There's an email

584
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 2: from an attorney with the Marshalls asking for a meeting

585
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 2: room with an electrical outlet so the buyer can plug

586
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 2: in their CD player.

587
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 1: I guess it's fair right, like they don't want to

588
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:54,720
Speaker 1: get home, Like, what the hell? This thing doesn't work?

589
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: I can't even play in the government's like sorry, buyer, beware,

590
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:58,240
Speaker 1: you're out of luck.

591
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 2: Or if it skips right skip and this is kind

592
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 2: of interesting, so pleaseer now is bound by the same

593
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 2: restrictions as Screlley was when he purchased the album. Right,

594
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 2: they can't stream it or duplicate it until two thousand,

595
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 2: one hundred and three. That sounds like way far in

596
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 2: the future. Last year, however, they found a workaround. Following

597
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,520
Speaker 2: discussions with the original artists and producer, the album was

598
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 2: turned into an NFT and for the equivalent of a dollar,

599
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 2: fans can listen to a five minute sampler of Once

600
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 2: Upon a Time in shell In. Each sale will speed

601
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 2: up the release of the album by eighty eight seconds.

602
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 1: Eighty eight seconds, okay, So how much would it cost

603
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 1: to speed it up by a year? Then?

604
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 2: Okay, we actually did this math. It would cost more

605
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 2: than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to speed up

606
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 2: the release of Once Upon a Time in shell In

607
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:53,280
Speaker 2: by one year.

608
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: WHOA, so have you heard it?

609
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 2: I didn't buy a sample with bitcoin, but Screlly did

610
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 2: make a video of himself playing the record.

611
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:07,480
Speaker 3: Let me play at least a little bit of that's

612
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 3: the intro.

613
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 2: I guess you can get a little bit of check

614
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 2: to to when it sounds theatrical, like you're getting ready

615
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 2: for something big.

616
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 1: It definitely sounds like wu tang. I mean, I could

617
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 1: see it in a movie mission impossible, But watching it

618
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 1: with Shrelly's reaction to it is so distracting and disturbing,

619
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 1: like he's bobbing his head in the haircut like he's

620
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 1: a keeper. Help.

621
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 2: You know. My advice is to close your eyes and

622
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,720
Speaker 2: just do not look at Screlly while listening to this.

623
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 2: But this was a pretty amazing use of foy if

624
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 2: I do say so myself patting myself on the back here,

625
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 2: it felt like we really knocked down some walls here.

626
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 2: That's you know that the government put up trade secrets,

627
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,239
Speaker 2: which didn't make sense to me at least, you know,

628
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 2: getting over that hurdle to obtain the purchase price and

629
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 2: then the name of the corporate entity that then bought

630
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,959
Speaker 2: it and then sold it immediately sold it to another entity.

631
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 2: It's kind of amazing.

632
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 1: And we learned that Foye is so broad it can

633
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,640
Speaker 1: even get you records about a one of a kind

634
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,080
Speaker 1: Wu Tang album that ended up in the hands of

635
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: a farmer bro and then ended up in the hands

636
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: of the government, who sold it so that the farmer

637
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,160
Speaker 1: bro could pay off what he owes for the damage

638
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: he caused. That's the power of FOYA. And if it

639
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:40,120
Speaker 1: wasn't clear already, Dox rule everything around us.

640
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 2: Boy, your boy, your request, y'all. Hey open Mike Ego.

641
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 2: By the way, what do you think about all this did?

642
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 3: Further emphasizes how dumb this all is. That there's a

643
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 3: two million dollar Woo Sang album, some weird guy bought it,

644
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 3: and that weird guy went to jail, and now the

645
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 3: government is selling it to people and he won't tell

646
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 3: you who they sold it to. It's all very stupid,

647
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 3: and there's real problems in the world that I wish

648
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 3: these millions of dollars could be addressing somehow instead of

649
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 3: the government doing a weird deal with a secret album

650
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:08,360
Speaker 3: that's probably not even good.

651
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:14,320
Speaker 2: And there you have it from Bloomberg and no smiling.

652
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,840
Speaker 2: This is disclosure. The show is hosted by Matt Topic

653
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,839
Speaker 2: and me Jason Leopold, It's produced by Heather Schroering and

654
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 2: Sean Cannon. For No Smiling, our editor for Bloomberg is

655
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 2: Jeff Grocott. Our executive producers for Bloomberg are Sage Bauman

656
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 2: and me Jason Leopold, and our executive producers for No

657
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:37,680
Speaker 2: Smiling are Sean Cannon, Heather Schroering and Matt Topic. The

658
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:42,120
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