Late last year, the Feds asked the judge in the Martin Shkreli case if they could seize $7.36 million from the pharmacy exec who was convicted of two counts of security fraud and one of conspiracy.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto has just ruled that they can.
Shkreli is said to be flat broke. But the Feds can take the $5 million he put up for bail and can then get the rest of the $7.36 million from his physical assets, which include the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the Lil' Wayne album Tha Carter V, and a painting by Pablo Picasso.
The seizure of his assets will then be applied to the rest of the amount he has to pay the government after "the resolution of any third-party claims to the assets," Matsumoto ruled.
Shkreli bought Once Upon A Time in Shaolin at an auction for $2 million and paid an undisclosed amount to a man who found a complete Carter V CD in a used Bugatti Wayne sold him.
The government would be able to sell the albums.
Copyright law might come into play, but it would be pretty funny if Carter V ends up dropping on the Fed's record label instead of Birdman's.
Shkreli will be formally sentenced for his crimes on Friday.