Fugees’ Pras Michel Convicted of Criminal Conspiracy

Fugees rapper Pras Michel has been found guilty on 10 counts for his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to influence the federal government. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, witness tampering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government (China). He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Michel was first charged in 2019 along with Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman accused of stealing $4.5 billion from 1MDB, which is the Malaysian government’s sovereign wealth fund.

More from Spin:

• Killing You Softly: Our 1996 Fugees Feature

• Fugees’ Pras Charged With Campaign Finance Violations in Billion Dollar Embezzlement Scheme

• Fugees’ Pras Implicated in Multimillion-Dollar Malaysian Financial Conspiracy

Prosecutors said that Low paid Michel around $100 million to influence American politics. Low is still at large.

Last week, Michel testified that Low paid him $20 million in 2012 in an attempt to take a photo with then-President Barack Obama. Michel, through Low, sent nearly $1 million to the Obama campaign through straw donors.

Additionally, Michel was accused of lobbying the Trump administration to drop its years-long investigation into Low and the government’s attempts to seize assets bought with the embezzled funds. He was also accused of attempting to influence the government to extradite Guo Wengui, a Chinese dissident. Guo was arrested in March for conspiracy.

Michel also failed to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which would have labeled him as an agent of a foreign government.

The trial lasted for a little over a month and included testimony from Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

No sentencing date for Michel has been set.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The post Fugees’ Pras Implicated in Multimillion-Dollar Malaysian Financial Conspiracy appeared first on SPIN.