*Pras Michel of the Fugees is opening up for the first time about his 2023 conviction on fraud charges.
We reported previously that Pras was convicted last April on ten criminal counts related to federal offenses including money laundering and campaign finance violations, according to the AP. Per Variety, Department of Justice special agent in charge Harry Lidsky said: “Michél played a central role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to improperly influence top government officials, including the then-president [Trump] and the then-attorney general [Sessions].”
Luis Quesada, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said Michél “brazenly conspired to help a foreign national launder millions of dollars in illegitimate campaign contributions into the 2012 U.S. presidential election.”
The U.S. government reportedly seized nearly $80 million from Michél and labeled him as a Chinese spy, a claim upheld by a jury. Prosecutors also alleged he earned over $100 million through his role in the financial scandal. Learn more about the case via the clip below. The 52-year-old now faces up to 22 years in federal prison, with sentencing scheduled for January.
Speaking to Variety about his entanglement in fraud controversy, Michél said, “I don’t know if subconsciously it was a bit exciting for me too. I like spy movies, but I never wanted to be a spy. I don’t think that’s sexy. But a part of it felt like that.”
Robert Meloni, a litigator on Michél’s team, said, “The government needed a prize. They needed a head, and he was the low-hanging fruit.”
Michél told Variety: “Every aspect of my life has been disrupted. I can’t bank anywhere, been kicked out of 13 banks.”
Pras is pushing for a new trial after his previous legal team used an experimental artificial intelligence program to minimize legal work. Per a report from Politico, the outlet writes: “Michel’s new attorneys argued that his Los Angeles-based lawyer David Kenner relied on the fledgling technology at critical points in Michel’s trial, contributing to “prejudicial ineffective assistance of counsel.”
Kenner “used an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) program to draft the closing argument, ignoring the best arguments and conflating the charged schemes, and he then publicly boasted that the AI program ‘turned hours or days of legal work into seconds,’” wrote Michel’s new defense team from D.C.-based ArentFox Schiff. “It is now apparent that Kenner and his co-counsel appear to have had an undisclosed financial stake in the AI program, and they experimented with it during Michel’s trial so they could issue a press release afterward promoting the program — a clear conflict of interest.”
Michél alleges in the suit that Kenner “overlooked nearly every colorable defense” and “failed to object to damaging and inadmissible testimony.”
Michél’s new attorney Peter Zeidenberg said, “We continue to believe that Mr. Michél was not afforded a fair trial, and that the jury’s verdict should be overturned. We plan to appeal this verdict and believe that Mr. Michél will, ultimately, be fully exonerated.”
Pras told Variety that he plans to fight and appeal his sentence, though he acknowledges the possibility of serving time in prison regardless.
“I’m going to fight, and I’m going to appeal, but there’s a possibility that I’m going in while I’m fighting. It’s just the reality,” he said.
Fans of the artist are hopeful that President Joe Biden will grant him a pardon before leaving office.
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