Fugees Rapper Found Guilty in Corruption Case

UPDATE Apr 27, 2023 1:30 AM CDT

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a former member of the Fugees, was on Wednesday convicted of all 10 federal crimes he'd been charged with as part of a "sprawling corruption trial," the Washington Post reports. The jury deliberated for two days before returning a verdict against the 50-year-old rapper. No sentencing date has yet been set, but he could face up to 20 years behind bars for some of the offenses. The Post, however, predicts the judge will issue a more lenient sentence due to advisory federal sentencing guidelines. His defense has promised to appeal.

Apr 4, 2023 12:30 AM CDT

Leonardo DiCaprio testified Monday at the trial of former Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, who is accused of conspiring to funnel money from a Malaysian state fund to then-President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. The 50-year-old New York native, whose trial began Thursday, has maintained his innocence. The AP offers a look at the main characters in the international scandal, and the fund that fueled it.

• Michel was a founding member of the influential 1990s hip-hop group the Fugees, along with better-known bandmates Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Prosecutors allege Michel conspired with Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho to funnel money from 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad), a Malaysian state fund established in 2009 to promote development, to Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign through straw donors. Prosecutors have said as much as $100 million went through Michel.

• DiCaprio testified in the case because of his ties to Low, the alleged architect of the scandal, who has also been indicted in the US but remained an international fugitive as Michel went to trial. The Malaysian financier who helped oversee 1MDB used it to bankroll an extravagant and celebrity-centric lifestyle.
• DiCaprio, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, has known Michel since the 1990s, and Low professionally and socially for years. The Oscar-winning actor testified that he met and befriended Low at a birthday party in Las Vegas in 2010. Low gave DiCaprio gifts, which he has since returned, including a Picasso painting valued at $3.2 million and a Jean-Michel Basquiat collage valued at $9.2 million. Low would use money from 1MDB to finance the Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street, which starred DiCaprio. DiCaprio testified that he had his team and the studio vet Low first, and they found him to be "a legitimate business person wanting to invest in the movie.”
• The film’s producers included Riza Aziz, stepson of then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who became chair of 1MDB when it was established in 2009 with the purported aim of increasing foreign investment. Investigators said Najib took hundreds of millions to fund his reelection campaign and pay off politicians.
• In 2020, Goldman Sachs acknowledged its role in the embezzlement scheme and paid out billions in settlements; a former Goldman Sachs banker named Roger Ng was sentenced in Brooklyn to 10 years in prison for his role in plundering the fund.
• A top fundraiser for former President Trump and the Republican Party, Elliott Broidy, was charged with running an illegal lobbying campaign on Jho Low’s behalf to get the Justice Department to drop its investigation into 1MDB’s looting. Broidy pleaded guilty, but was then pardoned by Trump, so was never sentenced.

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