Former rap star Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was just found guilty by a Washington D.C. federal court on Wednesday for colluding with the Chinese government. He helped funnel millions of dollars to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Michel, the founder of the rap group The Fugees, now faces up to 20 years in prison. The courts found him “guilty of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., witness tampering and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government,” Breitbart reported.
The Post Millenial reported:
Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government solicited Michel to funnel money into Obama’s re-election bid because foreigners are not allowed to contribute to US campaigns. According to court documents, Michel had taken “tens of millions of dollars” to lobby the US government on behalf of the Chinese government.
David Kenner, Michel’s attorney, said they will appeal the ruling and believe it will be overturned.
“We are extremely disappointed in that result but are very, very confident in the ultimate outcome of this case,” Kenner said following the verdict. “If we do move to a sentencing hearing I remain very confident we will certainly appeal this case. This is not over.”
Federal prosecutors say that Michel received more than $20 million from foreign-Chinese national accounts. They were passed off to 20 “straw donors from June to November 2012” according to the New York Post. The donors then made contributions to the Obama campaign in their own names, so that the money would not be tracked back to Low.
According to court documents, Michel was allegedly paid $70 million for his assistance to Low.
The Chinese government launched an investigation into Lw. they accused the financier of embezzling $4.5 billion from 1MDB, Malaysia’s state investment fund.
In 2017, Low allegedly got the help of Michel to try to influence the government to stop the Trump administration from investigating Lows “alleged role in billion of dollars being embezzled from 1MDB, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund,” CNN reported.
According to court documents, Michel advocated for the extradition of a Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, on behalf of the Chinese government. However, Michel testified that he only tried to help Low find an attorney in the United States.
Movie star Leonardo DiCaprio testified in the case earlier this month because he had been at a party with Low who had suggested to DiCaprio during a conversation that he was going to contribute to Obama’s presidential campaign.
DiCaprio said, “It was a casual conversation about what party he was in support of, I told him what party I was in support of. And he told me that he, or he and a group, were going to make a significant contribution to the Democratic Party. … I said ‘wow, that’s a lot of money.'”
Low allegedly helped fund DiCaprio’s 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” for which DiCaprio won a Golden Globe for best actor.
They have apparently been friends for many years, and the actor understood Low to be a significant businessman with ties to Abu Dhabi and Malaysia.
