2023-04-27 10:17:48
Grammy-winning rapper Pras Michel and former member of the Fugees has been found guilty in federal court in Washington on 10 counts related to an international conspiracy against the US government. According to the records, the artist would have helped the Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government to have contacts with very high US officials, including former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
US prosecutors say the 50-year-old, real name Prakazrel Samuel Michel, received more than $100 million from the Malaysian billionaire to variously influence US policy in favor of the latter.
During his testimony last week, Michel said Low paid him $20 million in 2012 to have his picture taken with Obama. Of this money, according to prosecutors, more than $800,000 was used to finance the former US president’s election campaign through a series of donors.
In his defense, Michel testified that he never used the money under Low’s direction, but instead saw it as his own money which he could spend however he pleased. “I could have bought 12 elephants with it,” he told the jury.
Among the charges against Michel, those of conspiracy, money laundering and espionage for a foreign country. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
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