Fugee's rap star Pras convicted of acting as CCP agent to funnel millions of dollars to Obama campaign

Former rap artist Prakazrel "Pras" Michel was found guilty by a Washington DC federal court on Wednesday for colluding with the Chinese government to funnel tens of millions of dollars to former President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Michel, founder of 90s rap group The Fugees, now faces up to 20 years in prison after the court's found him "guilty of conspiracy to defraud the US, witness tampering and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government," Breitbart News reports.



Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government solicited Michel to funnel money to Obama's re-election bid, because foreigners are not allowed to contribute to US campaigns. According to court documents, Michel had taken "tens of millions of dollars" to lobby the US government on behalf of the Chinese government.

David Kenner, Michel's attorney, said they will appeal the ruling and believe it will be overturned.

"We are extremely disappointed in that result but are very, very confident in the ultimate outcome of this case," Kenner said following the verdict. "If we do move to a sentencing hearing I remain very confident we will certainly appeal this case. This is not over."

Federal prosecutors say that Michel received over $20 million from foreign-chinese national accounts, which were then passed off to 20 "straw donors from June to November 2012," according to The Post. These donors then made the contributions to the Obama campaign in their names so that money could not be tracked back to Low.

According to court documents, Michel was reportedly paid $70 million for his assistance to Low.

However, the Chinese government launched an investigation into Low, accusing the financier of embezzling $4.5 billion from 1MDB, Malaysia’s state investment fund, per Reuters.

In 2017, Low reportedly solicited the help of Michel to try to influence the government to stop the Trump administration from investigating Low's "alleged role in billions of dollars being embezzled from 1MBD, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund," CNN reports.
 

According to court documents, Michel advocated for the extradition of a Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, on behalf of the Chinese government. However, Michel testified that he only tried to help Low find an attorney in the US.

Movie star Leonardo DiCaprio was made to testify in the case earlier this month because he had partied with Low who reportedly suggested to DiCaprio during a conversation that he intended to contribute to Obama’s presidential campaign, according to the New York Post.
 

DiCaprio said: “It was a casual conversation about what party he was in support of, I told him what party I was in support of. And he told me that he, or he and a group, were going to make a significant contribution to the Democratic Party. … I said 'wow, that's a lot of money.'"

Low reportedly helped fund DiCaprio’s 2013 hit film "The Wolf of Wall Street," for which the actor won the 48-year-old a Golden Globe for best actor. DiCaprio and Low apparently carried on a friendship for a number of years, and the actor apparently understood Low to be a significant businessman with ties to Abu Dhabi and Malaysia.