Ready or not: Fugees rapper involved in funneling millions to Obama campaign on trial
Misty Severi
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Former rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel is standing trial in Washington, D.C., in an international campaign-finance conspiracy this week, in which Michel allegedly conspired to funnel money from a Malaysian state fund to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Prosecutors allege Michel, who was part of the 1990s hip-hop group Fugees, conspired with businessman Low Taek Jho to funnel as much as $100 million through straw donors. The funds allegedly came from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a Malaysian state fund established to promote development in 2009, and approximately $2 million went to Obama’s 2012 campaign. Michel has pleaded “not guilty.”
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The trial included testimony from Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio about his connections to Michel and Low, who is believed to be the operation’s leader. Low allegedly gave DiCaprio extravagant gifts in the past, including a Picasso painting, and invested in DiCaprio’s film The Wolf of Wall Street. All items were returned, and DiCaprio is not accused of any crimes.
DiCaprio said he has known Michel since the 1990s and Low since 2010. When it came to financing the Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio said his team and the studio vetted Low and found him to be “a legitimate business person wanting to invest in the movie.” The film’s producers included Riza Aziz, stepson of then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Low, who is Malaysian, has been indicted in the United States but is considered an international fugitive and remains at large.
DiCaprio also testified that Low informed him that he and a group of people would be donating about $20 million to $30 million to the Democratic Party during a conversation in 2012. Prosecutors believe that money that was donated to the party came from the state fund, according to CNN.
DiCaprio said he stopped speaking to Low around 2015, when people on DiCaprio’s team discovered an article that alleged Low was using “illegal funding from Malaysia and a multitude of other places.”
Low has also allegedly used the funds to live a lavish lifestyle that included flying himself and friends around the world and attending and throwing lavish parties. One birthday party for Low consisted of performances from Jamie Foxx, Chris Brown, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and Pharrell Williams, according to the Associated Press.
Although DiCaprio’s friendship with Low is not in question, Michel’s is. According to the prosecution, Michel established himself as a businessman and tied himself with Low after his group disbanded in the 2000s. Michel’s operation with Obama was only one example of the alleged schemes Michel participated in. Another saw Michel, Low, and others illegally lobby Trump administration officials to kill a Justice Department investigation of Low related to the alleged embezzlement.
Other players in the international scandal included Razak, who was convicted on seven corruption charges after he pulled hundreds of millions from the fund to pay off politicians during his reelection campaign as prime minister. He lost the next election in 2018 and was convicted of the seven crimes in 2020. He has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
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A banker at Goldman Sachs was also sentenced in relation to the international scandal to 10 years in prison for his role. The bank acknowledged its responsibility in the embezzlement scheme and paid out more than $2.3 billion as part of a plea deal with the U.S. It also paid a $3.9 billion settlement with the Malaysian government.
A former fundraiser for former President Donald Trump pleaded guilty to running an illegal lobbying campaign to get the Justice Department to drop its investigation of Low, but he was pardoned by Trump before he could be sentenced.