A hip hop legend is headed to prison for a very long time.
Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, who helped to make the Fugees one of the most successful musical acts of the 1990s, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars on Thursday.
The 52-year-old was convicted of funneling millions in foreign donations to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Prosecutors say Michel obtained over $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low — and illegelly directed much of it toward the Obama campaign.
Michel was also convicted of tampering with two witnesses and perjuring himself during his trial.
Prosecutors alleged that Michel “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes” (per NPR).
The trial included testimony from Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“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,” prosecutors wrote.
Michel’s attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, countered that his client’s 14-year sentence is “completely disproportionate to the offense.”
“The Government’s position is one that would cause Inspector Javert to recoil and, if anything, simply illustrates just how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence,” the defense team wrote.
Lawyers for Michel maintain that Low, who is currently a fugitive, was not attempting to manipulate US politics.
Pras Michel, a member of the 1990’s hip-hop group the Fugees, arrives at U.S. District Court on March 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Instead, the financier — who was a producer on DiCaprio’s film The Wolf of Wall Street — merely wanted a photo with Obama.
“Low’s motivation for giving Mr. Michel money to donate was not so that he could achieve some policy objective. Instead, Low simply wanted to obtain a photograph with himself and then-President Obama,” Michel’s attorneys wrote.
The judge previously rejected Michel’s request for a mistrial on the grounds that his attorney used generative AI to help craft his closing argument.
Michel’s lawyers say that he plans to appeal his conviction.