Us Rapper Gets 14 Years Jail Over Jho Low Funds In Obama Campaign

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Hip-hop artist Prakazrel 'Pras' Michel of Grammy award-winning group Fugees says he saw the funds as 'free money' to help Low secure a photo with the president.
Rapper Prakazrel ‘Pras’ Michel was convicted in 2023 of several crimes, including lobbying to end US probes on Jho Low’s role in the 1MDB scandal. (Reuters pic)ANKARA: Hip-hop artist Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegally channelling foreign funds into former US president Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign
Michel, 52, was convicted by a Washington jury in April 2023 on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
According to prosecutors, Michel received over US$120 million from Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and funnelled part of that money through dummy donors to gain access to Obama.
During the trial, Michel said he saw the funds as “free money” to help Low secure a photo with the president.
The US Justice Department said Michel “betrayed his country for money” and accused him of lying “unapologetically and unrelentingly”, the Turkish news agency reported citing CBS News.
Prosecutors recommended a life sentence, arguing the punishment should reflect the magnitude of his greed. The rapper’s attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, called the 14-year sentence “completely disproportionate”.
Michel, who declined to speak before sentencing, plans to appeal.
The Brooklyn native whose parents emigrated from Haiti rose to fame in the 1990s with Fugees members Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, winning two Grammys with the group.
Michel also faced charges of attempting to influence the Donald Trump administration in 2017 to drop its investigation into Low and to extradite Chinese dissident Miles Guo, who remains in US custody in connection with a billion-dollar fraud case.
Low, a fugitive financier and backer of the film The Wolf of Wall Street, has denied wrongdoing. - FMT

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