Winning bidder of one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang album revealed to be Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli

HE BECAME “the most hated man in America”, and Martin Shkreli’s latest move definitely won’t help his public image.

WU-TANG Clan ain’t nothing to mess with.

It’s a declaration (albeit a slightly more PG version) that the iconic ’90s hip hop group were famous for espousing during its decorated career. And judging from the past behaviour of pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, a similar sentiment seems to drive his incredulous behaviour.

So the latest move by “the most hated man in America” shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

The man behind the company who bought the rights to a cheap antiparasitic drug and hiked the price more than 5000 per cent has bought the only Wu-Tang album of its kind in the world.

According to Bloomberg Business, the 32-year-old CEO was the winning bidder of a silent auction for the artwork and reportedly paid nearly $3 million for it.

The album called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin is the only one in existence. In what has been called “one of the greatest sales pitches the music industry has ever heard”, the group announced last year the sole album would be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be Martin Shkreli, who made the winning bid before controversy erupted over his “greedy” business practices.

“I was a little worried that they were going to walk out of the deal,” he told Business Insider. “But by then we’d closed. The whole kind of thing since then has been just kind of ‘Well, do we want to announce it’s him? Do we not want to announce it’s him?’”

Now, they have announced it’s him.

Members of rap and hip hop icons Wu Tang Clan, who hail from New York City.

The 32-year-old sparked global outrage and a received a torrent of criticism after his company bought the drug Daraprim and changed the price from $US13.50 to $US750. The drug treats toxoplasmosis, an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious life-threatening conditions in people with compromised immune systems.

He later defended himself by saying the enormous price hike was simply good business.

Aside from an expressed enjoyment for owning a monopoly, it is unclear what he plans to do with his purchase.

So far he has been content in teasing Twitter and hinting that he might play the album during a live stream.

If there is a curious gap in your favorite artist's discography, well, now you know why.

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) December 9, 2015

Live streaming. Talking music, drugs and stuff. May play something special. https://t.co/Ez8X7Bon7v

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) December 9, 2015

Activists hold signs containing the image of Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli in front the building that houses Turing’s offices, in New York. Picture: AP Photo/Craig Ruttle