Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a former Fugees rapper, was found guilty on felony allegations that he conspired with a Malaysian financier to organize a number of foreign lobbying efforts intended to sway the US government throughout the administrations of two presidents.
The Grammy-winning musician and former Fugees member was charged with many offenses in connection with a plot that didn’t work to give access to US politicians, including former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, to the Chinese government and Malaysian billionaire Jho Low.
Rapper from the hip-hop trio from the 1990s who won a Grammy was accused on 10 counts of crimes, including faking campaign funding reports and working as an unregistered foreign agent of China. He had entered a not guilty plea to each accusation.
The defense said that Michel was just out to earn money and that he had terrible legal counsel while redefining himself in the political sphere.
High-profile witnesses during his trial included Jeff Sessions, a former US attorney general, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Despite being “extremely disappointed” by the decision, Michel’s attorney David Kenner expressed continued optimism that the court would throw out the charges. There is no defined time for sentence.
Low and Michel first crossed paths in 2006, at a time when the businessman was spending lavishly and mixing with celebrities like Paris Hilton.
He contributed to the funding of Hollywood productions including The Wolf of Wall Street. In his testimony, DiCaprio stated that Low had struck him as a respectable businessman who had expressed an interest in supporting Mr. Obama’s campaign.
Low wanted a photo with Mr. Obama in 2012 and was prepared to spend millions of dollars for it, Michel said during his own defense.
According to Michel, Low gave him $20 million to assist him in getting the picture, and he used some of the funds to cover the costs of friends’ attendance at charity events. He said no one had ever informed him that was prohibited.
The money was allegedly donated on Low’s behalf by Michel, according to the prosecution. Later, in an effort to prevent the straw donors from cooperating with the investigation, the prosecution sent SMS from burner phones to them.
Prosecutors claim that Michel once more used millions of dollars after Donald Trump was elected to block an inquiry into claims that Low was the mastermind of a money-laundering and bribery conspiracy that siphoned billions from the Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB.
Low is still at free and is accused of stealing $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, according to separate federal indictments filed in New York.
Prosecutors claim that Michel received payment for his efforts to get the US to return to China a government critic accused of committing crimes there without first registering as a foreign agent.
The defense used Mr. Sessions’ evidence in support of that assertion. Mr. Sessions served as Mr. Trump’s top law enforcement official until his resignation in 2018.
Despite not knowing Michel, Mr. Sessions claimed to be aware of the Chinese government’s desire for the extradition. The rapper’s ultimately unsuccessful attempts to set up a meeting to discuss the matter did not appear unethical, according to the former attorney general.
That serves him right