I gotta be honest.

I never thought I'd be doing a lawsuit about a single copy of a Wu Tang record.

Yeah.

I love this story and how the album ends up in the hands of the US marshals and it just sits there in a vault for like two years.

Cue the music.

I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold.

I spend most of my days getting documents from the government.

I'm attorney Matt Tapik, and I fight them in court to open their files when they don't want to.

From Bloomberg and no smiling.

This is Disclosure, a podcast about buying loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act, and the unexpected places that takes us.

Matt, what T shirt you wearing today?

I've warned this thing a thousand times.

It's a bacon mobile.

Bacon mobile.

Nice, It's like a food truck looking thing.

It says, a bacon mobile one dollar.

So.

Prices have gone up quite a bit on bacon since I got this shirt.

Yeah, they have also the health risks as well.

Matt, Oh, don't believe that.

What do you say that this T shirt is like amazing?

Is it the quality of the shirt, the material?

Yes, there were instances in my life where I would find a shirt that I loved, and it's usually a band T shirt that was so comfortable that I have to buy two in case the one got ripped.

This is one of those.

And the funny thing about this weird tick that I had of needing two of everything and how it relates to the foyer, is that back in the day, agencies would say to me when they're conducting a search, Hey, do you mind if we remove the duplicates, like duplicate emails, And I'm like, yes, I mind.

I want two of everything, So like two of everything, even like extended to whatever.

Like they're telling me, like, may take longer.

I'm like, but I want both.

I need to have two of everything.

I finally, you needed someone to tell me, like, listen, you're not going to miss anything.

If you tell them to remove, it's not going to break.

But for some reason, it was just like, no, I want both.

You're deeply distrustful.

That's very true, as you should be.

It's your job, which is why we fought as hard and long as we did against the government to get that bill of sale that showed finally how much the government sold Once upon a Time in Shellin.

For do we need like a drum roll?

Drum roll?

No, not for Wu Tang, we need like a record scratch.

Hey on, let's do the backstory first.

Can we start with what is Once upon a Time in Shallin?

Okay?

So the Justice Department didn't get his hands on some used Wu Tang CD.

This album Once upon a Time in shall In wasn't just rare, it was singular, a creature of myth in an age of mass production.

It's Riza, the architect of the Wu Tang clan, wanted the album to be treated like a sacred artifact.

It was a way to restore value to music by making it scarce, untouchable.

In his view, people only truly value what they can have.

We've only made one copy and and it's gonna you got to go to a museum to hear it.

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

No labels, no corporate fingerprints.

It was all a shadow operation known only to Rizza and the producer, not even other Wu Tang members.

I didn't know anything about anything, not method Man, not ghost face Killer.

That was never really know what I Over six years, the album took shape in fragments recorded mostly in Staten Island, forged in Marrakech, and finally pressed into a double disc set sealed inside a vault at one of Africa's finest hotels.

This was Rizza's Phantom Treasure.

Thirty one tracks.

Every member of Wu Tang on the record, with guest appearances from Redman, a few FC Barcelona players, and apparently the Goddess of pop.

That voice sounds familiar, yes, a.

Little bit like share.

Apparently because very few people have heard the album, and that's the point.

In March twenty fourteen, Riza announced that he was about to put out an album like no one had ever done in the history of modern music.

It's like the Illis package right there.

Yeah, the Hillis album covering the history of the world.

The plan was for once upon a time in Shaolin to disappear into private hands, sold to a single chosen bidder.

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

Only the owner or those summoned to private, heavily guarded listening rituals would ever hear it.

No recordings, no leaks, no exceptions.

The album wouldn't be released publicly for eighty eight years.

Once the world got wind of Once upon a Time in shall In it indeed became a living legend.

A guy from Forbes flew to Morocco to be one of the first to hear the record before it got auctioned off.

I'm going to drive about one hundred and fifty miles to Marrakesh, and then I'm going to go into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains to hear part of the Wu Tang plant's new secret album at a MoMA PS one unveiling.

Roughly one hundred and fifty hand picked guests endured tsa level security, surrendering phones, passing double metal detector scans, and facing guards checking for bugs just to hear a thirteen minute excerpt of the album, which by the way, was locked behind velvet ropes and hulking security men.

We are all in the very privileged situation to witness the first, the last, and the only public listening session of Once Upon a Time in Shao Lein.

But not everyone was so enthusiastic about the record.

Fans were upset that they couldn't hear it.

Other Wu Tang members agreed, and many of them felt shut out of the project entirely they took issue with the idea of their music being locked away like a private treasure, not to mention how the producer went about the project.

Everybody else just got paid whenever they got paid for their feature.

But you accept me that you're gonna build the album around it.

That's the sneaky.

That's ghost Face Killer on the bootleg keV podcast saying he didn't know his track would be turned into a secret Wu Tang Clan album and sold for millions without the group being cut in.

Didn't y'all gonna do that?

It didn't even bring nobody off.

Do you show that for that much?

I'll be honest with you.

I do like Wu Tang Clan and I thought it was just wow, that's interesting.

But it wasn't until they auctioned it off and then finding out who the buyer was where it suddenly became a little bit more interesting to me.

Bill Ball comes on, right, is that Rizza?

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

Goes, hey, you guys, hear about this comeback and it's ma scurelly like.

Wait a minute, hey baby, that's the guy that bought the album.

So Martin Screlly is the farmer Bro, the farmer.

Bro, farmer Bro, the notorious farmer Bro.

He's best known as the farmer Bro Martin Screlly.

If I was aware of that, I may have every different approach to put that in his head.

And I want to describe him.

I'm going to look and see how the Internet has described him.

I mean, I immediately found on Reddit Screlly is a piece of that raised prescription drug prices thousands of percent.

He's also been called a moor Ley bankrupt sociopath, a garbage monster, and everything that's wrong with capitalism.

And why is he hated?

Well, tonight, the head of a drug company who's accused of gouging patients says he should be thanked.

I don't really care about people hating me.

He was a farmer executive and a hedge fund manager.

He had this company and this is what earned him that notorious nickname farmer Bro.

He jacked up the price of this life saving drug by like five thousand percent.

There's no excuse from going from thirteen dollars and fifty cents to seven hundred and fifty dollars for one pill.

This is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules and my investors expect me to baximize profits.

People started calling him the most hated man in America.

What do you say to that signal pregnant woman who might have aids she needs terre prihim in order to survive.

He had testified before Congress about the drug, the price of what he raised.

He was very, very smug.

On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination.

Then he was charged with securities fraud, nothing to do with any price gouging, but for defrauding investors in his hedge fund.

Busy guy.

People hated him, They had choice words for him, and anyway along the way, he purchased Once upon a Time in Shallon.

What did you think the first time you listened to it?

He was mad, but I don't think it was ever about the music, not exactly thirty six shapers.

So he wins the auction and he pays for the album with drug blood money basically, oh man, So how much exactly did he pay for it?

Most reports put it out two million Shtrelli himself has said one point five million.

So how did the government get the album?

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

He's convicted of securities fraud, has a seven year sentence, and as part of that, the government seesed a bunch of his assets, including Once upon a Time in Shallon.

After he's convicted of securities fraud, he owes a bunch of restitution and then they seize his assets order to pay back the victims.

Is that the idea exactly?

I got to say, as a piece of performance art, if that's what you look at the album is, it's doing pretty good right now?

Yeah?

Right?

It ends up in the hands of this crazy guy and then it gets seized by the federal government right in an asset seizure to pay off the guy's restitution.

Like, I mean, how amazing is that.

You couldn't have made a better storyline for this album.

It's amazing.

So they seize this album and that's kind of the last thing we hear about it for probably about three, you know, over three years.

So what's going on in the summer I move twenty twenty one, Jason, that causes you to make this request?

There was so much secrecy around this.

What was happening at that time was the Justice Department and the US marshals had this joint announcement where they sold once upon a time in Shoulin to whom.

They didn't say who they sold it to.

But here's what the announcement said, read by rapper and comedian open Mike Eagle, the contract of sale contains a confidentiality provision that protects information relating to the buyer and price.

It was that secret.

So I followed requests with the DOJ Criminal Division after the announcement, and they were taking an unnecessarily long time to respond.

I sent this to you because I wanted to sue.

Well, you wanted your records and you realized it was going to take a lawsuit to get it.

I assume you didn't just like want to sue.

Why would you assume that I was just trying to make you sound good, buddy.

But let's fine.

Jason enjoys the combat, yes, Matt, I enjoy the government fulfilling their duty to release records that below to the public, and sometimes that takes a lawsuit.

Okay, fair enough, let me read the email.

Start us up, buddy, all right?

I get an email from Jason about a request that he made to the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.

I request disclosure from the Asset Recovery Section in the Office of the Criminal Division for the following records.

One.

A copy of the receipt of sale of the album Once Upon a Time In shall In by the recording group Wu Tang Clan.

A copy of the contract in returns of sale by the Government of Once Upon a Time in shall In any and all photographs in video, and possession of the Asset Recovery Section of Once Upon a Time In shallon any, all legal memos, opinions and guidance provided to the Asset Recovery Section related or referring to the sale of Once Upon a Time in shall In, and just a bunch of other communications about all this stuff.

This is like the most formal email I've ever gotten from you.

May I have some lawsuits?

Please please, sir?

Can I?

It's not even any profanity in this anyway?

So we filew the lawsuit and in only a few short months I actually did get some records, which is surprising because sometimes it can take years before we'll see anything.

It's January twenty twenty two and the first batch of records hits my inbox.

And what's the first thing that catches my eye photos.

There are photos of the mythical Once upon a Time in shall Lin take a look at these photos, Matt?

What do you see?

So?

The first thing I see is this black box with a Wu Tang insignia on tap that kind of looks like a large cigar humidor.

It's not just a black box.

It's a cedar wood box covered in black cow leather with light beige velvet lining.

According to the asset list.

Looking at this, someone has not taken very good care of this.

It's like scratched up.

It looks like there's like cigarette ash on it.

Like I don't know what this thing's been through, but I don't think mister Scrilly just put this in like somewhre re safe keeping, like it's a little worn for wear.

What's inside the box?

So you open up the box and then there's another box inside that is like gold and it's got really sort of intricate patterns on it, and another Wu tang it's singing on top of it.

It's a nickel silver box and an inner jewel case containing two CDs over cedar wood with black cow leather lining.

To be precise, this one looks like.

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

These descriptions are so damn sexy.

Yeah, it's real sexy.

Wait if there's also a leather battle lyric book that looks like it came from Jandolf yet totally.

It's like, got this like medieval kind of like leather look with some fancy metalwork on it.

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

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

And then it looks like we've got like a wax imprint, something that would have been used hundreds of years ago.

What does it say, Matt.

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

Congratulations on your purchase.

Right, Martin Screlly's name is now permanently associated with this album.

For just one point five million dollars, hip hop culture could be yours.

But I wanted to know how much the DOJ sold it for more on that after the break, So I get the first batch of records and they are incredible.

The majority of good fifty pages are just photos.

I'm seeing once upon a time and shell in for the first time.

But how much did the government auction it off for I was dying to know.

And right there before my eyes at the end of the batch of records is the purchase agreement.

I was about to find out there toward the bottom purchase price quote, the price is redacted.

They redacted the price.

But wait, the very last page the United States Marshals bill of sale quote.

Now, therefore, and in consideration of the payment of the sum of redacted the reason for trade secrets, Matt, can you explain that?

So there's an exemption in FOYA that says the government isn't required to release trade secret kind of information that they receive from people or companies in the course of doing government stuff.

So the government's argument is that this is a trade secret and they're not supposed to release it.

But our counter to that was basically that the buyer had already publicly announced.

What they paid for it.

Right In October twenty twenty one, The New York Times revealed that the new owners of Once Upon a Time in Shell in, a digital art and crypto collective known as Pleaser Dow, had paid the equivalent of four million dollars in a cryptocurrency tied to the dollar for the album according to the story, please are now obtained it through an intermediary, which then paid the government.

I wanted to see if the bill of sale back that up, so I was furious.

The people absolutely deserve to know what their government is off to, how much they're auctioning off for.

But it would take another three years to find out why because there was still more records to come, and I couldn't challenge the exemptions until all records were in.

What happened next was at times illuminating, other times it was maddening.

I get the next batch of records nearly four months later.

I opened them up and they appear to be emails between the attorneys Matt and open Mike Eagle want to read them.

So this is an email thread titled Screlly Update Wednesday, fourteen July twenty twenty one, twelve twenty oh one.

Hi Jackie and Alex rejected.

Then another reduction it's even bigger, thanks Laura.

And then we've got another part of the email from Claire that says dear Jackie and Alex, and it's an even bigger redacted box.

So we know who's talking, but we have no idea what they're saying.

Because they've rejected it all based on some Foyer exemptions.

The government stripped out all the behind the scenes discussions that were taking place in emails that would kind of give us a window into how they were managing and setting up the sale of the album.

And this is kind of how it went for a few months.

I'd get a slow trickle of records and inside was nothing much, but a few things were kind of hilarious.

So here's an email from one of the attorneys at the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

The subject line is Screlly Wu Tang Clan album and Picasso.

All earlier this morning and following yesterday's denial of Screlley's cert petition, the Marshalls took custody of the Wu Tang Clan album and Picasso sketch that he owned.

Then somebody responds to that email and says, today's call.

Focused on the album only.

We will follow up to discuss the Picasso, which is worth far less.

It's more like a sketch, and I believe it was a praise to being worth less than thirty thousand dollars.

It's more like a sketch Wu Tang's single copy album is worth more than a Picasso sketch, eh.

I mean, you know, I'm not an art collector.

That seems kind of low to me for a Picasso sketch.

But he's got like a million of them.

You know, this is the only copy.

I mean, it's kind of a brilliant idea.

Right, they make an album, they make one copy of it, it's going to be worth, you know, a fair amount.

He also had a copy of the Carter five by Lil Wayne, and they considered seizing that too, but we never got how much that's worth.

I don't know what that is.

You got to leave that part in where Matt says, I don't know what that is.

So these records were interesting just in terms of getting a little understanding on how they were communicating behind the scenes.

There were some emails about prospective buyers, and this one is kind of funny.

It's from an attorney representing an interested buyer.

Hi, Claire and Laura, I just wanted to let you know that my client is still interested in buying at one million dollars.

To be clear, he doesn't have.

One million dollars right now, but things he could raise it in a realutable amount of time.

Please let me know if there's any interest or also, please do make a counter offer if you have one, Thanks best, redacted.

Yeah, I think he's going to have to do better than that.

That's not even close to what Screlly paid.

Yeah, this is like a classic low ball.

Hey, I'm giving you this garbage offer, but please counter As somebody who negotiates all the time, that's always kind of annoying, like, come on, give me a real offer.

And then there's this one from an attorney in the Isset Forfeiture unit asking for a background check on a potential buyer who QUO may have a large wallet.

Large in all caps.

It says, Hi, Will, could you please look into both redacted and let me know if there are any red flags that would raise concerns or due diligence, criminal history, issues with dirty funds, et cetera, any indication that they could have a conflict of interest with Martin Screlly.

Thanks.

At least from what we saw, there's no one discussing holy crap.

We got Wu Tang clan Once upon a time in Shaolin.

We got to go, you know, have a listening party.

It was really centered on business, on legal business.

The closest we get to any kind of excitement about the record is this email between two assistant US attorneys on the case when they're getting close to closing a deal.

I'm going to wear my shaolin lid.

What is it?

Shaolin lid for good luck all week?

Dot dot dot exclamation point.

Like a hat.

Yeah, I mean that's what's coming to mind for me.

I actually looked up shaolin lid and didn't find much on Google.

Shallin has been part of the Wu Tang mythology all along.

But Shallin lid, I mean, I don't know.

He's gotta be talking about a hat.

She's gotta be talking about a hat.

But you can't tell if their ascitement is because they're interested in the record or if they're just ready to be done with Screlley.

There's one email while the attorneys are shoring up loose ends with the sale, when one comment.

Hopefully this will mean the end of all things screlly for us exclamation point.

In the end.

It all kept the end, and by July twenty twenty one, the assistant US attorneys seem to relish a little hardball from a judge presiding over yet another case, one in civil court.

Screlly was involved in.

The subject says.

See attached decisions from Judge Nathan looks like she isn't going to tolerate any more delays.

From Screlly, and the email reads it's about time someone stopped tolerating his nonsense.

Also, that's a ridiculously long subject line.

It's like two sentences.

I mean, basically they put the body of the email in the subject line.

It's a little invasive to the inbox in my opinion.

So during the course of this litigation, you know, we got to a point where it was kind of interesting at first, but certainly the redactions didn't help, and it became just boring and I'm not really getting what I need.

And to make matters worse, after a year of document dumps, the government tells us we're not even close to the end.

They miraculously found ten thousand more emails.

I don't know how you misplace those, but I'm getting about one hundred at a time, and it could be years before I could challenge the redactions.

So I did something I've never done before.

That's after the break.

So I wanted to get everything I wanted to know how much the government auctioned the album off, for who they sold it to, the name of the corporate entity that purchased the album, pretty much everything, but they were withholding and so I was like, Okay, I'm done with these emails.

They're really not telling me anything.

I said, let's just move forward with getting what I want.

I told my attorneys that I was willing to give up the rest of the emails so they could challenge what we believed was the agency's improper use of the trade secrets and privacy exemptions.

And so we entered into negotiations, you know, with the government, and the government maintained that this person had a privacy interest and that his or her name, you know, would not be disclosed.

Making a long story short, you know, got to an agreement that basically the government said if I didn't pursue the name of the individual buyer, meaning like if I were to just drop that, they would give us the name of the corporate entity that purchased the album as well as the purchase price.

And I thought that that was a good deal one because I figured, like, Okay, if I get the name of the corporate entity, then maybe I could use that to kind of chase down who the buyer is, who actually purchased the album.

But once we came to the decision like okay, we want to like give up this to get that, I don't think that was more than weeks or maybe like a few months.

So finally in July twenty twenty five, it came the purchase agreement with a lot of redactions lifted.

This asset purchase.

Agreement is made as of July nineteenth, twenty twenty one, by the United States Marshall Service four and on behalf of the United States of America and redacted and WTC Endeavors Limited, a Hong Kong Limited company.

And then scrolling down it says purchase price.

So the government sold the album.

For two million, two hundred and thirty eight, four hundred and eighty two dollars and thirty cents for the assets.

And purchasers will also reimburse the US Marshall Service for its expenses in.

The amount of seven thousand, one hundred and sixty two dollars and twenty seven cents, for a total payment of two million, two hundred and forty five thousand, six hundred and forty four dollars and fifty seven cents.

That's what the government withheld under trade secrets for Genius for more than three years.

How did they get to that number?

So it's interesting and a good question.

And what I discovered was is that they basically were just looking to sell the album to cover what he owed the government.

But might it not have been worth more than that?

Well, if there was more money to be had, it might be that that's money that would have to go to screlly.

It's like if you're in foreclosure on your house.

If you owe like one hundred thousand in your house is worth three hundred thousand.

I don't think the bank and most states gets to just like pocket the other two hundred thousand.

But I'm not a specialist in the sale of one of a kind albums to satisfy government debts.

In total, Shcrelli old the government more than seven million, and the album satisfied the outstanding balance.

That's what I thought.

So that invites an inquiry into whether they really got as much for it as they could have, because you could see how they don't really have a whole lot of incentive to get any more money for it than whatever it is to satisfy the judgment.

If the money's just going to go back to Screlly, the guy who's case they can't wait to be done with, and probably for good reason, then you know, that's why there's an interest in knowing what the amount is, because I think that's a fair thing to scrutinize on.

So what we ended up with and the end was the purchase price, and that was a big deal to get that.

I mean, it felt like, holy crap, we pride lose a significant amount of information.

And by the way, the DOJ made it clear to us that please her Now, the crypto collective that currently owns the album, wasn't connected in any way to the corporate entity or the individual who purchased the album.

So I thought that was very interesting that please er Now was not the direct purchaser of any of this.

So I found this, you know, kind of fascinating.

So the name of the company that was set up to purchase Once upon a Time in Shaolan is WTC Endeavors Limited, Right, so assuming WTC and Devor's limited at Wu Tang Clan Endeavors Limited, It's incorporated in Hong Kong in May twenty twenty, and then dissolved in March twenty twenty three.

So just through a little slew thing, after we get the unredacted documents with the purchase price, you know, we were able to see various officers who are affiliated with WTC endeavors, but none of those names were well known.

So to me, it appears that the actual name of the person who bought Once upon a Time I'm in shall Lynn is not even noteworthy.

So the best read I have is that the Justice Department sold the album to someone we still don't know who for two point two million dollars, a bit more than Screlly paid, and that person or entity basically turned around and sold it again to please her now for four million dollars worth of crypto.

So that's not really a bad deal.

It sold for a fair amount more than Screlly paid for it, right, like double.

Right, which is good for rizz.

I guess just like an appreciates like a house or something, It's like it is more and more valuable with tom.

Now, do you think any curious people in the Justice Department decided they would just go ahead and give it a little listen?

Yes?

Yes, so that was part of like what I was hoping that all of the emails that we obtained through FOYA, through the lawsuit that we filed would actually yeah, they would actually have someone inside DOJ saying hey, I just listened to Wu Tang last night.

Oh man, you know what an incredible album.

But no, luck, you didn't need I mean, there were ten thousand more emails we never got to see.

But I will say to this day, even though we do not have evidence that the government through a listening party, you know, for once upon a time in Sheldon the.

Saddest listening party that there ever was in the world.

I know, but I absolutely believe they listened to it.

Come on, I mean you could.

They could take the position of like, look, if we're going to sell this asset, we have to listen to it first so we know what we're selling right right, you know, we need to make sure it's authentic.

It's really Wu Tang.

Yeah, of course they listen to it.

By the way, we'll need to contact the OJAY and.

Ask them whether anyone listened to it.

Whether anyone listened to it.

You could also ask, like any credit card receipts or reimbursement for any food or beverages that were purchased for the purposes of a Wu Tang listening party, and you could kind of indirectly get the answer through that.

Okay, We asked the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District in New York if anyone listened to the album them, and they said no comment.

I mean, I suspect that just their policy is just always going to be no comment.

But that really kind of feels like if they were going to deny it, they would have said no.

It's the equivalent Matt of a Glomar response.

Is it is exactly a Glomar response.

There's actually a stipulation in the purchase agreement that says at closing, the buyer could play quote.

At least the first ten seconds of each track, but they had to bring their own CD player.

Look, we're not giving you the CD player.

And that's funny because I know the government has a lot of CD players because they're always producing US documents on CDs.

So it sounds like they followed through.

There's an email from an attorney with the Marshalls asking for a meeting room with an electrical outlet so the buyer can plug in their CD player.

I guess it's fair right, like they don't want to get home, Like, what the hell?

This thing doesn't work?

I can't even play in the government's like sorry, buyer, beware, you're out of luck.

Or if it skips right skip and this is kind of interesting, so pleaseer now is bound by the same restrictions as Screlley was when he purchased the album.

Right, they can't stream it or duplicate it until two thousand, one hundred and three.

That sounds like way far in the future.

Last year, however, they found a workaround.

Following discussions with the original artists and producer, the album was turned into an NFT and for the equivalent of a dollar, fans can listen to a five minute sampler of Once Upon a Time in shell In.

Each sale will speed up the release of the album by eighty eight seconds.

Eighty eight seconds, okay, So how much would it cost to speed it up by a year?

Then?

Okay, we actually did this math.

It would cost more than three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to speed up the release of Once Upon a Time in shell In by one year.

WHOA, so have you heard it?

I didn't buy a sample with bitcoin, but Screlly did make a video of himself playing the record.

Let me play at least a little bit of that's the intro.

I guess you can get a little bit of check to to when it sounds theatrical, like you're getting ready for something big.

It definitely sounds like wu tang.

I mean, I could see it in a movie mission impossible, But watching it with Shrelly's reaction to it is so distracting and disturbing, like he's bobbing his head in the haircut like he's a keeper.

Help.

You know.

My advice is to close your eyes and just do not look at Screlly while listening to this.

But this was a pretty amazing use of foy if I do say so myself patting myself on the back here, it felt like we really knocked down some walls here.

That's you know that the government put up trade secrets, which didn't make sense to me at least, you know, getting over that hurdle to obtain the purchase price and then the name of the corporate entity that then bought it and then sold it immediately sold it to another entity.

It's kind of amazing.

And we learned that Foye is so broad it can even get you records about a one of a kind Wu Tang album that ended up in the hands of a farmer bro and then ended up in the hands of the government, who sold it so that the farmer bro could pay off what he owes for the damage he caused.

That's the power of FOYA.

And if it wasn't clear already, Dox rule everything around us.

Boy, your boy, your request, y'all.

Hey open Mike Ego.

By the way, what do you think about all this did?

Further emphasizes how dumb this all is.

That there's a two million dollar Woo Sang album, some weird guy bought it, and that weird guy went to jail, and now the government is selling it to people and he won't tell you who they sold it to.

It's all very stupid, and there's real problems in the world that I wish these millions of dollars could be addressing somehow instead of the government doing a weird deal with a secret album that's probably not even good.

And there you have it from Bloomberg and no smiling.

This is disclosure.

The show is hosted by Matt Topic and me Jason Leopold, It's produced by Heather Schroering and Sean Cannon.

For No Smiling, our editor for Bloomberg is Jeff Grocott.

Our executive producers for Bloomberg are Sage Bauman and me Jason Leopold, and our executive producers for No Smiling are Sean Cannon, Heather Schroering and Matt Topic.

The disclosure theme song is by Nick, with additional music by Nick.

An Epidemic sound, sound design and mixing is by Sean Cannon.

Emails were read this week by open Mic Eagle.

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We'll see you again next Tuesday, Boy, you get the records