The Fugees’ Pras Michel handed 14-year sentence for illegal donations to Obama re-election campaign
The Associated Press | Posted: November 20, 2025 11:52 PM | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
Prosecutors had sought life sentence, while defence had recommended 3 years
Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel (Pras) Michel of the Fugees was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in prison for a case in which he was convicted of illegally funnelling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to the 2012 re-election campaign of U.S. President Barack Obama.
Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for Michel, whom they said “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.”
“His sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,” they wrote.
‘Completely disproportionate’
Defence attorney Peter Zeidenberg said his client’s 14-year sentence is “completely disproportionate to the offense.”
Michel will appeal his conviction and sentence, according to his lawyer.
Zeidenberg had recommended a three-year prison sentence. A life sentence would be an “absurdly high” punishment for Michel given that it is typically reserved for deadly terrorists and drug cartel leaders, Michel’s attorneys said in a court filing.
“The Government’s position … simply illustrates just how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence,” they wrote.
Michel obtained over $120 million US from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low — and steered some of that money through straw donors to Obama’s campaign.
Michel also tried to end a Justice Department investigation of Low, tampered with two witnesses and perjured himself at trial, prosecutors said.
Low, who has lived in China, was one of the primary financiers of The Wolf of Wall Streeta movie starring DiCaprio. Low is a fugitive but has maintained his innocence.
“Low’s motivation for giving Mr. Michel money to donate was not so that he could achieve some policy objective. Instead, Low simply wanted to obtain a photograph with himself and then-President Obama,” Michel’s attorneys wrote.
The judge said that and other trial errors didn’t amount to a serious miscarriage of justice.
