He betrayed his country: Refugee star Pras turns 14 for Obama donation plot
WASHINGTON (AP) — Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison in a case in which he was convicted of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Michel, 52, refused to address the court before District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, DC included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
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Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Michel, who they said “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and tirelessly to carry out his plans.”
“His sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,” they wrote.
Defense attorney Peter Zeidenberg said his client’s 14-year sentence is “completely disproportionate to the crime.” Michel will appeal his conviction and sentence, according to his lawyer.
Zeidenberg had recommended a three-year prison sentence. A life sentence would be an “absurdly high” punishment for Michel, given that it is typically reserved for deadly terrorists and drug cartel leaders, Michel’s lawyers said in a court filing.
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“The Government’s position would set Inspector Javert back and, if anything, simply illustrates how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how ill-equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence,” they wrote.
Michel, a Brooklyn native whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti, was a founding member of the Fugees along with his childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. His hip-hop band won two Grammy Awards and sold tens of millions of albums.
Michel obtained more than $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, and routed some of that money through front donors to the Obama campaign.
Michel also tried to end a Justice Department investigation into Low, tampered with two witnesses and committed perjury at trial, prosecutors said.
Low, who lived in China, was one of the main financiers of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a film starring DiCaprio. Low is a fugitive but has maintained his innocence.
“Low’s motivation for giving Mr. Michel money to donate was not so that he could achieve some political goal. Instead, Low simply wanted to obtain a photograph of himself and then-President Obama,” Michel’s lawyers wrote.
In August 2024, the judge denied Michel’s request for a new trial based in part on his defense attorney’s use of a generative artificial intelligence program during closing arguments in the trial. The judges said that and other miscarriages of justice did not amount to a serious miscarriage of justice.