Fugees rapper Pras (born Prakazrel Samuel Michel) has been accused of taking part in a conspiracy to bring millions of dollars into the United States in order to assist a Malaysian fugitive in influencing a series of Justice Department investigations and anti-crime efforts. He was implicated as part of a guilty plea entered by an alleged co-conspirator, former Justice Department employee George Higginbotham, as the New York Times reports.
The allegations against Michel are part of a large, long-running conspiracy devised by the Malaysian government to promote economic growth for the Malaysian people, a case that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions discussed in a speech from 2017. Sessions spoke of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund called 1MDB, which sought to achieve that goal. A network of Malaysian businessmen and officials reportedly misused over $4.5 billion from 1MDB, and laundered it through shell companies with U.S. and international bank accounts. Earlier this year, Malaysian financier Jho Low was charged by the Justice Department for allegedly participating in the laundering.
According to court papers viewed by ABC, Low was accused of finding a political fundraiser to lobby the U.S. government to ignore the 1MDB case. Michel and Higginbotham allegedly helped hide Low’s ties to the lobbying campaign. When the U.S. government continued their pursuit of the issue, Michel and Higginbotham allegedly assisted Low in pushing for the deportation of a foreign national who had previously criticized the Malaysian government.
As of now, no charges have been publicly filed against Michel as the investigation is ongoing. Higginbotham was charged with one felony count of “conspiracy to make false statements” to a bank. Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Michel and the Department of Justice for further comment.
