Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in jail for a case wherein he was convicted of illegally funneling hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in international contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection marketing campaign.
Michel, 52, declined to deal with the courtroom earlier than US District Decide Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, together with conspiracy and appearing as an unregistered agent of a international authorities. The trial in Washington, DC, included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Lawyer Basic Jeff Periods.
Justice Division prosecutors mentioned federal sentencing tips beneficial a life sentence for Michel, whom they mentioned “betrayed his nation for cash” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to hold out his schemes.”
“His sentence ought to mirror the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the dangers to his nation, and the magnitude of his greed,” they wrote.
Protection lawyer Peter Zeidenberg mentioned his consumer’s 14-year sentence is “utterly disproportionate to the offense.” Michel will attraction his conviction and sentence, in line with his lawyer.
Zeidenberg had beneficial a three-year jail sentence.
A life sentence can be an “absurdly excessive” punishment for Michel provided that it’s sometimes reserved for lethal terrorists and drug cartel leaders, Michel’s attorneys mentioned in a courtroom submitting.
“The Authorities’s place is one that might trigger Inspector Javert to recoil and, if something, merely illustrates simply how simply the Pointers could be manipulated to provide absurd outcomes, and the way poorly outfitted they’re, a minimum of on this event, to find out a good and simply sentence,” they wrote.
Michel, a Brooklyn native whose dad and mom immigrated to the US from Haiti, was a founding member of the Fugees together with childhood buddies Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean.
Their hip-hop band gained two Grammy Awards and bought tens of hundreds of thousands of albums.
Michel obtained over $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also called Jho Low — and steered a few of that cash via straw donors to Obama’s marketing campaign.
Michel additionally tried to finish a Justice Division investigation of Low, tampered with two witnesses and perjured himself at trial, prosecutors mentioned.
Low, who has lived in China, was one of many major financiers of “The Wolf of Wall Avenue,” a film starring DiCaprio. Low is a fugitive however has maintained his innocence.
“Low’s motivation for giving Mr. Michel cash to donate was not in order that he might obtain some coverage goal. As a substitute, Low merely needed to acquire {a photograph} with himself and then-President Obama,” Michel’s attorneys wrote.
In August 2024, the decide rejected Michel’s request for a brand new trial primarily based partially on his protection lawyer’s use of a generative AI program throughout his closing of the trial’s arguments.
The judges mentioned that and different trial errors didn’t quantity to a severe miscarriage of justice.
