Washington, Nov 22: A US court sentenced rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel to 14 years in prison on Thursday for involvement in a billion-dollar Malaysia scam that funneled money into American politics, media reported.
The 52-year-old founding member of the 1990s hit trio the Fugees was convicted of money laundering and campaign finance violations in 2023 in a global foreign influence scandal led by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho.
A jury had found Michel guilty on 10 criminal counts following a high-profile trial that included Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio as a witness.
Michel’s lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, said his client would appeal and that the sentence was disproportionate, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Several US entertainment media outlets including Billboard and Entertainment Weekly also reported the sentence.
Zeidenberg did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Justice Department prosecutors said in a filing last year that Michel had “betrayed his country for money” and “funneled millions of dollars in prohibited foreign contributions into a United States presidential election”, warranting a serious sentence.
In the early 2010s, Low — now a fugitive believed to be hiding in China — used billions of dollars stolen from a Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB to invest in luxury US real estate, fine art, and Hollywood films like DiCaprio’s Wolf of Wall Street.
Michel was accused of helping Low secretly channel money into then-president Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign via shell companies, hiding the donations’ origins.
Michel, originally from Brooklyn, founded the Fugees with his childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean.
The group won two Grammy Awards at the peak of their fame in the 1990s and sold tens of millions of albums.
© Agence France-Presse
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