Eva Deschamps / April 28, 2023
Hip-hop star Pras Michel, a former member of The Fugees, was convicted Wednesday in Washington, D.C., for his role in an illegal influence campaign by a Malaysian financier at the center of a massive corruption scandal.
The 50-year-old Haitian-American artist was found guilty of all charges for which he was prosecuted, after a media trial lasting several weeks.
Pras "Michel played a central role in a broad conspiracy to influence senior government officials," said Harry Lidsk, a Justice Department official.
Between 2012 and 2017, the hip-hop star allegedly received some $100 million from Malaysian Low Taek Jho, considered the mastermind of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund scandal 1MDB.
Michel was convicted of conspiracy, forgery and serving as a covert agent of a foreign government, among other offenses, for which he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
Mr.Low, the Malaysian businessman at the heart of this vast scandal was charged in 2018 for corruption and money laundering related to the looting of the 1MDB fund, supposed to contribute to the economic development of Malaysia. On the run, he is now probably in China.
The financier is accused, along with other people, of having used the money in this fund to buy luxury homes, yachts or works of art and to surround himself with music and film stars, including financing the film "The Wolf of Wall Street", a feature film released in 2013 that won an Oscar for Leonardo DiCaprio.