{"id":206619,"date":"2025-11-21T14:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/pras-michel-fugees-star-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-funneling-millions-to-barack-obama\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T14:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:20:12","slug":"pras-michel-fugees-star-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-funneling-millions-to-barack-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/pras-michel-fugees-star-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-funneling-millions-to-barack-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"Pras Michel: Fugees Star Sentenced to 14 Years In Prison For Funneling Millions to Barack Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A hip hop legend is headed to prison for a very long time.<\/p>\n<p>Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<p>The 52-year-old was convicted of funneling millions in foreign donations to Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><noscript><\/noscript><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Pras Michel, a member of the 1990's hip-hop group the Fugees, arrives at U.S. District Court on April 3, 2023 in Washington, DC. \" class=\"wp-image-540959 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-960x640.jpg 960w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-1080x720.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1479399751-scaled.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pras Michel, a member of the 1990\u2019s hip-hop group the Fugees, arrives at U.S. District Court on April 3, 2023 in Washington, DC. <span class=\"image-caption-credit\"> (Photo by Tasos Katopodis\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prosecutors say Michel obtained over $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho \u2014 also known as Jho Low \u2014 and illegelly directed much of it toward the Obama campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Michel was also convicted of tampering with two witnesses and perjuring himself during his trial.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors alleged that Michel \u201cbetrayed his country for money\u201d and \u201clied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes\u201d (per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/11\/21\/g-s1-98692\/pras-michel-fugees-sentenced-14-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NPR<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The trial included testimony from Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-710x1024.jpg\" alt=\"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. \" class=\"wp-image-540961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-710x1024.jpg 710w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-768x1108.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-1420x2048.jpg 1420w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-665x960.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-749x1080.jpg 749w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-832x1200.jpg 832w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-scaled.jpg 1774w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"710\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-710x1024.jpg\" alt=\"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. \" class=\"wp-image-540961 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-710x1024.jpg 710w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-768x1108.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-1420x2048.jpg 1420w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-665x960.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-749x1080.jpg 749w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-832x1200.jpg 832w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-scaled.jpg 1774w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407552-scaled.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pras Michel, a member of the 1990\u2019s hip-hop group the Fugees, arrives at U.S. District Court on March 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. <span class=\"image-caption-credit\"> (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHis sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Michel\u2019s attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, countered that his client\u2019s 14-year sentence is \u201ccompletely disproportionate to the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Government\u2019s 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,\u201d the defense team wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for Michel maintain that Low, who is currently a fugitive, was not attempting to manipulate US politics.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"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.\" class=\"wp-image-540960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-960x639.jpg 960w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1080x719.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1200x798.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\"\/><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"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.\" class=\"wp-image-540960 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-960x639.jpg 960w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1080x719.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-1200x798.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1478407583-scaled.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pras Michel, a member of the 1990\u2019s hip-hop group the Fugees, arrives at U.S. District Court on March 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. <span class=\"image-caption-credit\"> (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Instead, the financier \u2014 who was a producer on DiCaprio\u2019s film <em>The Wolf of Wall Street<\/em> \u2014 merely wanted a photo with Obama.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLow\u2019s 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,\u201d Michel\u2019s attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The judge previously rejected Michel\u2019s request for a mistrial on the grounds that his attorney used generative AI to help craft his closing argument.<\/p>\n<p>Michel\u2019s lawyers say that he plans to appeal his conviction.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehollywoodgossip.com\/2025\/11\/pras-michel-fugees-star-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-funneling-millions-to-barack-obama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Time: 2 minutes A hip hop legend is headed to prison for a very long time. Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-206619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hollywood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}