Pras Michel was also convicted of conspiracy, forgery and use of forgery and serving as a covert agent of a foreign government.
Hip-hop star Pras Michel, member of the Fugees, was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for illegally channeling foreign contributions to the re-election campaign of former US President Barack Obama in 2012, according to US media.
In April 2023, Haitian-American artist Prakazrel Michel, known as Pras, 53, was found guilty of participating in an influence campaign led by a Malaysian financier, at the heart of a vast corruption scandal.
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Between 2012 and 2017, the hip-hop star reportedly received more than $120 million from Malaysian Low Taek Jho, considered the mastermind of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB scandal. According to the prosecution, this sum would have partly financed Obama’s campaign in 2012. Donations from abroad being prohibited in the United States, they would have been made via nominees and offshore companies.
Pras Michel was also convicted of conspiracy, forgery and use of forgery and serving as a covert agent of a foreign government.
He was also tried for illegal lobbying for the benefit of China in 2017, with the first Trump administration. He planned to request the extradition to Beijing of the controversial entrepreneur Guo Wengui, accused of having cheated thousands of investors of more than a billion dollars.
According to the New York Timeshis lawyer Peter Zeidenberg denounced a verdict without evidence and a “completely disproportionate” sentence. He indicated that his client would appeal.
Prosecutors, for their part, pointed out in 2024 that federal guidelines recommended a life prison sentence for Michel. They had demanded a “severe prison sentence”, according to their written submissions, consulted by AFP. They notably accused the musician of having “betrayed his country for money” and “lied without remorse and relentlessly to carry out his schemes”.
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Michel, a Brooklyn native whose parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti, is a founding member of the Fugees, alongside his childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. The group won two Grammy Awards during their peak in the 1990s and sold tens of millions of albums.