Entertainment
Fugees rapper Pras Michel found guilty of illegal lobbying campaign and faces up to 20 years in jail-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro
The musician ‘sought to use his celebrity and access to influence US government officials’.
The musician ‘sought to use his celebrity and access to influence US government officials’ (Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
Pras Michel, a rapper best-known for being a member of the hip hop group Fugees, has received a criminal conviction for a multi-million dollar political conspiracy he was accused of being involved in.
Born Prakazrel Samuel Michel, the musician was convicted by a federal jury ‘for orchestrating an unregistered, back-channel campaign’, which is said to have begun circa 2017, to influence the then-administration of the US President and the Department of Justice to drop the 1MDB investigation, which related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
It’s been said by US prosecutors that the 50-year-old received more than $100million (£80m) from Malaysian billionaire Jho Low in an attempt to sway American politics.
Michel faced charges of conspiring with the financier to orchestrate illegal lobbying campaigns to influence the US government when Barack Obama and Donald Trump were in power during their respective tenures in the White House.
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A Polite Jr said: ‘As proven at trial, the defendant engaged in an extensive conspiracy to use millions of dollars in foreign funds to engage in illegal back-channel lobbying and make unlawful campaign contributions.
‘Today’s verdict demonstrates that anyone who engages in unlawful foreign-sponsored efforts to influence American officials, our elections, or the criminal justice system will be brought to justice.’
Michel was accompanied by defense lawyer David Kenner as he arrived at federal court for his trial (Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Michel pictured in 1994 with his Fugees bandmates Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean (Picture: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
As outlined by the US Department of Justice, court documents and evidence presented at the trial showed that Michel conspired with several individuals ‘to engage in undisclosed lobbying campaigns’ with the aim of having ‘the 1MDB embezzlement investigation and forfeiture proceedings involving Low and others dropped and to have a Chinese national sent back to China’.
‘Mr Michel sought to use his celebrity and access to influence US government officials on behalf of undisclosed foreign interests,’ said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen.
‘This is an affront to the rule of law, and we will use the full range of tools at our disposal to hold accountable those who would covertly aid foreign actors seeking to interfere with our democratic system of government.’
Michel could face up to 20 years in jail for his convictions, which include conspiracy, concealment of material facts, making false entries in record, witness tampering and serving as an unregistered agent of a foreign power. A sentencing date is yet to be set.
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Harry A Lidsk, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Cyber Investigations Office, said that the rapper ‘played a central role in a wide-ranging conspiracy’.
‘The defendant brazenly conspired to help a foreign national launder millions of dollars in illegitimate campaign contributions into the 2012 U.S. presidential election,’ Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division stated.
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