Ex-Fugee Pras Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison
The Grammy winner was convicted of illegally funneling millions in foreign contributions to Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
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. Michel is on trial for his alleged participation in a campaign finance conspiracy.
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Prakazrel “Pras” Michél, one-third of the iconic 1990s hip-hop trio the Fugees, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday, Nov. 20, after a criminal trial in which he was found guilty in a $100 million political conspiracy case. According to ABC News, Michel, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in a Washington, D.C., court.
Pras declined to address the court before he was sentenced.
The “Ghetto Superstar” rapper was accused of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. In April 2023, Michel was convicted of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial included testimony from Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Earlier this month, he was also ordered to pay $64 million to the government.
According to NPR, Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence. They said Pras "betrayed his country for money" and "lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes."
"His sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed," they wrote.
Defense attorney Peter Zeidenberg argued the 14-year sentence is "completely disproportionate to the offense." Michel is expected to appeal his conviction and sentence. Zeidenberg previously recommended a three-year prison sentence and called a life sentence an "absurdly high" punishment for Michel.
"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, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence," his defense wrote.
