Grammy Award-winning rapper Prassrel “Prass” Michael of the Fugees has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Colleen Koller-Koteli, according to reports.
Michael was sentenced to prison for illegally making millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former U.S. President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2012.
Michael received more than $120 million from Malaysian billionaire businessman Low Take Joe – also known as Joe Low – and some of that money was used to fund Obama’s election campaign.
In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michael of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, in a trial in Washington, D.C. that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
A Brooklyn native who immigrated to the United States from Haiti, Michael was a founding member of the Fugees with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Their hip-hop group won two Grammy Awards and sold millions of albums.
