Former Fugees rapper, Prakazrel 'Pras' Michel has been convicted on criminal charges that he conspired with a Malaysian financier to orchestrate a series of foreign lobbying campaigns aimed at influencing the US government under two presidents.
The Grammy-winning artist and former member
of the Fugees faced multiple counts over the failed conspiracy to help
Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government gain access to US
officials, including former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
The Grammy-winning rapper from the 1990s
hip-hop group was charged with 10 counts of crimes including acting as an
unregistered foreign agent of China, witness tampering, and falsifying campaign
finance records. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The defence argued Michel simply wanted to
make money and got bad legal advice as he reinvented himself in the world of
politics.
His trial featured high-profile witnesses
including Leonardo DiCaprio and former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Michel's lawyer David Kenner said he was
"extremely disappointed" by the verdict, but remains hopeful the
charges could be dismissed by the judge.
No sentencing date has been set.
Michel first met Low in 2006, when the
businessman was dropping huge sums of money and hobnobbing with the likes of
Paris Hilton.
He helped finance Hollywood films, including
The Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio testified Low had appeared to him as a
legitimate businessman and had mentioned wanting to donate to Mr. Obama's campaign.
Michel also testified in his own defence and
said Low wanted a picture with Mr. Obama in 2012 and was willing to pay
millions of dollars to get it.
Michel said he received $20 million from Low
to help him get the photo and used some of the money to pay for friends to
attend fundraising events. No one had ever told him that was illegal, he said.
Prosecutors said Michel was donating the
money on Low's behalf, and later tried to lean on the straw donors - a person
who illegally uses another person's money to make a political contribution in
their own name - with texts from burner phones to keep them from talking to
investigators.
After the election of Donald Trump,
prosecutors say Michel again took millions to halt an investigation into allegations
Low masterminded a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions
from the Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB.
Low, who also faces separate federal charges
in New York that he embezzled $4.5 billion from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign
wealth fund, remains at large.
Michel also got paid to try to persuade the
US to extradite back to China a government critic suspected of crimes there
without registering as a foreign agent, prosecutors said.
On that charge, the defence pointed to
testimony from Mr. Sessions, who was Mr. Trump's top law enforcement officer
until he resigned in 2018.
Mr. Sessions said he had been aware the
Chinese government wanted the extradition but did not know Michel. The rapper's
ultimately futile efforts to arrange a meeting on the topic did not seem
improper, the former attorney general said.
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