A federal judge sentenced Grammy-winning Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel to 14 years in prison on Thursday for funneling millions in foreign money into Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential reelection campaign and later acting as an unregistered agent for Chinese interests.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly handed down the sentence in Washington after Michel, 52, declined to speak in court. He is expected to surrender on January 27 and will serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
Prosecutors had urged a life term under federal guidelines, writing that Michel “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.” They said the punishment should reflect “the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,” AP reported.
Michel’s defense attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, called the 14-year term “completely disproportionate to the offense” and said his client will appeal both the conviction and sentence. Attorneys had sought three years, arguing a life sentence would be “absurdly high” and typically reserved for terrorists and major drug traffickers.
“The Government’s 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,” defense lawyers wrote in court papers.
A jury convicted Michel in April 2023 on 10 counts, including conspiracy, witness tampering, and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Evidence showed he received more than $120 million from Malaysian financier Jho Low — the fugitive central figure in the 1MDB scandal — and routed some of it through straw donors to Obama’s campaign.
Prosecutors said Michel also tried to persuade the Trump administration to drop probes into Low and a Chinese dissident, and later tampered with witnesses and lied under oath.
Defense filings maintained that Low only wanted “a photograph with himself and then-President Obama” and had no broader policy goal.
Last year Kollar-Kotelly denied Michel’s request for a new trial, which was partly based on his former lawyer’s use of generative AI to help craft closing arguments. The judge ruled that the errors did not create a miscarriage of justice.
“Throughout his career, Pras has broken barriers,” spokesperson Erica Dumas said in a statement, Rolling Stone reported. “This is not the end of his story. He appreciates the outpouring of support as he approaches the next chapter.”
