Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel has been sentenced to 14 years in jail after being discovered responsible of felony conspiracy and unlawful overseas lobbying, Billboard stories. Washington, D.C. federal decide Colleen Kollar-Kotelly handed down the sentence on Thursday, November 20. Pras will serve 14 years out of a most 22, adopted by three years of probation. Final month, he was additionally ordered to forfeit almost $65 million to the U.S. authorities.
Pras was first charged with marketing campaign finance crimes in 2019, although the case didn’t go to trial till 2023. He was accused of illegally funneling cash from Malaysian fugitive Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low) into former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election marketing campaign, and later making an attempt to affect President Donald J. Trump and his administration to finish a Division of Justice investigation into Jho Low. In the course of the trial, Leonardo DiCaprio was referred to as as a witness attributable to Jho Low’s position in funding The Wolf of Wall Road.
Pras was ultimately discovered responsible of all 10 costs introduced in opposition to him, which included conspiracy to defraud the USA authorities and making overseas and conduit marketing campaign contributions, one rely of concealing materials info, and two counts of creating a false entry in a file in reference to the conspiracy. He subsequently filed a movement for retrial, claiming that his lawyer, David Kenner, had used AI to jot down his closing argument.
Final yr, Pras sued Ms. Lauryn Hill, blaming her for the cancellation of a deliberate Fugees tour. His new attorneys reportedly plan to enchantment each his sentence and convictions within the felony conspiracy case.
