Fugees rapper Pras Michel is trading the stage for a prison cell after the Fugees rapper was hit with a 14-year federal sentence.
The 53-year-old artist now faces years behind bars, three more on probation, and the loss of more than $64 million.
Prosecutors said Michel got swept up in Jho Low’s orbit, the elusive Malaysian mogul accused of siphoning $4.5 billion from the 1MDB government fund. The government proved that Michel secretly worked for Low while trying to influence political power in Washington.
That allegedly included steering millions into Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection effort using straw donors and later pressuring the Trump administration to shut down the Justice Department’s 1MDB probe. Prosecutors allege that the Haitian rapper collected tens of millions.
Michel could have taken a plea deal that might have left him with barely over a year in prison and a chunk of his seized money returned. Instead, he rolled the dice and went to trial, which turned into a spectacle when Leonardo DiCaprio appeared on NAIJAONPOINT stand.
The actor testified that Low had helped fund The Wolf of Wall Street and donated to his foundation before DiCaprio cut ties in 2015.