WASHINGTON — Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees was sentenced on Thursday to 14 years in jail for a case during which he was convicted of illegally funneling hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in international contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection marketing campaign.
Michel, 52, declined to handle the courtroom earlier than U.S. District Choose Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, together with conspiracy and appearing as an unregistered agent of a international authorities. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Lawyer Normal Jeff Classes.
Justice Division prosecutors mentioned federal sentencing pointers beneficial a life sentence for Michel, whom they mentioned “betrayed his nation for cash” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to hold out his schemes.”
“His sentence ought to replicate the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the dangers to his nation, and the magnitude of his greed,” they wrote.
Protection legal professional Peter Zeidenberg mentioned his shopper’s 14-year sentence is “fully disproportionate to the offense.” Michel will enchantment his conviction and sentence, in line with his lawyer.
Zeidenberg had beneficial a three-year jail sentence. A life sentence could be an “absurdly excessive” punishment for Michel provided that it’s usually reserved for lethal terrorists and drug cartel leaders, Michel’s attorneys mentioned in a courtroom submitting.
“The Authorities’s place is one that will trigger Inspector Javert to recoil and, if something, merely illustrates simply how simply the Tips may be manipulated to supply absurd outcomes, and the way poorly geared up they’re, at the least on this event, to find out a good and simply sentence,” they wrote.
