ANKARA

Hip-hop artist Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegally channeling foreign funds into the 2012 reelection campaign of former US President Barack Obama, media reports said on Thursday.

Michel, 52, was convicted by a Washington jury in April 2023 on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent, according to CBS News.

The US Justice Department said Michel “betrayed his country for money” and accused him of lying “unapologetically and unrelentingly.”

Prosecutors recommended a life sentence, arguing the punishment should reflect the “magnitude of his greed.”

But his attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, called the 14-year sentence “completely disproportionate.”

Michel, who declined to speak before sentencing, plans to appeal.

The Brooklyn, New York native, whose parents emigrated from Haiti, rose to fame in the 1990s with Fugees members Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, winning two Grammys with the group.

According to prosecutors, Michel received over $120 million from Malaysian businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and funneled part of that money through straw (dummy) donors to gain access to Obama.

During the trial, Michel said he saw the money as “free money” to help Low secure a photo with the president.

Michel also faced charges of attempting to influence the Trump administration in 2017 to drop its investigation into Low and to extradite Chinese dissident Miles Guo, who remains in US custody in connection with a billion-dollar fraud case.

Low, a fugitive financier and backer of the film The Wolf of Wall Street, has denied wrongdoing.

In August 2024, Michel’s request for a new trial was rejected.

His defense cited the use of a generative artificial intelligence tool during closing arguments, but the judge ruled it did not result in a miscarriage of justice.