A federal judge sentenced Pras Michel, the Fugees rapper who was convicted of conspiracy, money laundering, and illegal lobbying, among other crimes, in April 2023, to 14 years in prison on Thursday. A rep for the musician confirmed the news to Rolling Stone.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced the artist, whose real name is Prakazrel Michel, in a D.C. federal court, according to Billboard. After serving the sentence, Michel will serve three years’ probation. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of multiple decades, while his lawyers asked the judge for only three years.
Michel’s lawyers will next appeal both his conviction and sentence. In the meantime, he’s expected to surrender on Jan. 27. “Throughout his career Pras has broken barriers,” his spokesperson, Erica Dumas, tells Rolling Stone. “This is not the end of his story. He appreciates the outpouring of support as he approaches the next chapter.”
In 2019, the federal government indicted Michel on four criminal counts of making illegal contributions to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Two years later, the government added charges to the indictment, as outlined in a Rolling Stone feature, including bank fraud, concealment of material facts, witness tampering, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and working as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China.
All of the charges relate to Michel’s relationship with a Malaysian, Low Taek Jho, who had stolen $4.5 billion from 1 Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB). The government claimed Michel helped move money from 1MDB to a campaign lobbying Donald Trump to drop an investigation into Low and a Chinese dissident. “What benefit would I get trying to break laws?” he told Rolling Stone. “It’s not worth it to me. I’m like a pariah now. I’ve got friends who won’t talk to me because they think there’s a satellite in orbit listening to them.”
After the conviction, the rapper asked for a retrial, alleging that his lawyer, David Kenner, fumbled his case by using A.I. to write closing arguments. A judge denied the request.
In the midst of it all, Pras briefly reunited with the Fugees for a few months in 2023. He distanced himself from reunions with Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean the following year.
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