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The legal team of former Fugees member Pras Michel has launched his defense against federal criminal conspiracy charges. His trial was originally scheduled to begin early last November but was pushed back to March 27, apparently due to an unrelated injury sustained by one of his attorneys. Michel is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States government, one count of a scheme to conceal material facts, and two counts of making a false entry in a record in connection with the conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty to all four charges in 2019.
The case stems from Michel’s involvement with Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low), a Hollywood party fixture and one-time advisor to former Malaysian president Najib Razak. Together, Low and Michel are accused of funneling federal funds to political campaigns and obstructing the investigation into their alleged crimes. Low is wanted internationally in connection with his country’s 1MDB scandal, in which he allegedly helped embezzle billions of dollars from the state-owned sovereign investment fund he and then-president Razak co-founded.
Federal prosecutors say Low gave Pras approximately $100 million over the years in an attempt to influence U.S. politics: In 2012, Pras allegedly used some of that money to illegally contribute to Political Action Committees (PACs) supporting Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. Later, the prosecutors claim, he used more of the funds in an attempt to pressure the Trump administration to terminate a Department of Justice investigation into Low’s activities. He is also accused of another attempt to sway Trump’s office, this time on behalf of the Chinese government — advocating for the extradition of a Chinese dissident from the States — without registering as a foreign agent.
Per a report by the Associated Press, Michel’s attorney David Kenner explained the ex-MC’s dealings with Jho as part of his early efforts to enter the political arena after Fugees disbanded, but he insisted that there had been “no agreement to do anything in an unlawful way.” At several points in the hearing, he reiterated the sentiment, acknowledging Michel’s relationship with Jho but asserting that there was no “James Bond … cloak and dagger stuff” and that Michel had always tried to “go through the proper channels.” The FADER has reached out to Kenner’s firm for further comment.
