Pras Micheln his attorney David Kenner (R) 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images, Tasos Katopodis. All rights reserved.
Fugees rapper Pras Michel has been found guilty in US federal court in Washington, DC of involvement in illegal campaign contributions, money laundering and witness tampering. Samuel Prakazrel “Pras” Michel now faces up to 20 years in prison.
“We are very disappointed with this result, but we are also very, very confident about the final outcome of this case,” Michel’s attorney, David Kenner, said in a statement to the press. “Should there be a verdict hearing, I remain very confident that we will appeal the case. It’s not over yet,” he continues.CNNquoted. A date for the announcement of the verdict has not yet been set.
In May 2019, the US Department of Justice indicted 50-year-old Michel. The allegation: He is said to have been involved in a “political conspiracy” with the Malaysian investor and entrepreneur Jho Low. The financier used the middleman Michel to pour around 20 million US dollars into Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign. However, donations from abroad are prohibited in the United States – no financial influence on an election can be taken with the help of donations.
The 1MDB scandal and Leonardo DiCaprio
The money for the campaign donation is said to come from Malaysian sovereign wealth funds. In the course of one of the biggest financial scandals in recent years, several billion US dollars were stolen from private sector interests “1Malaysia Development Berhad” stolen. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in the wake of the 1MDB scandal.
Jho Low, who has been in hiding since 2017, is said to be involved. Among other things, he helped finance the film “The Wolf of Wall Street” with stolen funds and gave the lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio a Picasso painting. The actor finally had to return this due to the investigations against Low. DiCaprio was also required to testify during the trial against Fugees member Pras Michel due to his ties to the investor, but he was not personally accused. The world-famous company “Goldman Sachs” was also in the focus of the authorities. However, after a $2.9 billion settlement payment, the investigation was dropped.