Entertainment
Fugees rapper Pras Michel receives 14-year sentence for illicit contributions tied to Obama campaign
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 funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
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.
Defense 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 is one that would cause Inspector Javert to recoil and, if anything, 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.
Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Michel, a Brooklyn native whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti, was a founding member of the Fugees along with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Their hip-hop band won two Grammy Awards and sold tens of millions of albums.
Michel obtained more than $120 million 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 said during trial that he viewed Low’s payments as “free money,” and accepted the millions over the course of nine months to help Low secure a photo op with Obama. He said under oath at the time that no one told him such payments toward political donations could have been unlawful or violations of campaign finance laws.
The Justice Department also charged Michel with serving as an unregistered foreign agent for China, alleging that in 2017 he sought to sway the Trump administration to halt its probe into Low and to extradite a Chinese government target living in the U.S. That individual, dissident Miles Guo, was charged in New York in a billion-dollar fraud case and is still in custody.
Low, who has lived in China, was one of the primary financiers of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a 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.
In August 2024, the judge rejected Michel’s request for a new trial based in part on his defense attorney’s use of a generative artificial intelligence program during his closing of the trial’s arguments. The judges said that and other trial errors didn’t amount to a serious miscarriage of justice.
Cruz Beckham and Jackie Apostel exuded perfect couple goals as they stepped out in France for Paris Fashion Week on Thursday.
The couple sweetly held hands as they arrived at their lavish hotel, chauffeur privately.
As for Jackie’s style, she cut a stylish figure in a pink faux-fur coat paired with blue denim jeans and chic burgundy high heels.
Meanwhile, the young son of Sir David and Victoria Beckham embraced the spring weather shorts and a leather jacket.
They arrived in Paris just a day after Cruz and his band, The Breakers, performed on stage at The Deaf Institute in Manchester.
For the unversed, David Beckham made sure to support his son by attending the performance, watching his 21-year-old son and his band take the stage alongside former player Nicky Butt.
Just hours earlier, David, Victoria, Cruz, and Romeo sent birthday wishes to Brooklyn via Instagram posts to mark his 27th birthday.
The public olive branch came six weeks after Brooklyn made a bombshell statement declaring that he had no wishes to reconcile with his father.
Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes stunned fans with their first official public appearance together in over a decade.
Gosling turned The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon into a birthday bash for Mendes’ 52nd.
The 45-year-old appeared on the late-night show to promote his upcoming film Project Hail Mary, but the spotlight quickly shifted when he surprised Mendes with an extravagant celebration.
He invited the audience to sing “Happy Birthday” as Mendes.
Gosling wearing striped Louis Vuitton cardigan, walked onstage to cheers.
The festivities escalated when Fallon revealed that North Bergen High School’s marching band was in the audience.
The band paraded onto the stage, playing “Happy Birthday” while waving a flag emblazoned with Mendes’ name.
Confetti rained down as Gosling clapped, sang along, and received a kiss on the cheek from Mendes.
The moment marked a rare public outing for the couple, who last walked a red carpet together in 2013 for The Place Beyond the Pines.
Since meeting on set in 2011, Gosling and Mendes have kept their relationship largely private, raising daughters Esmeralda and Amada away from the spotlight.
Mendes, who has often spoken about her preference for privacy, seemed touched by the surprise.
The celebration not only honored Mendes’ milestone birthday but also delighted fans with a rare glimpse of Hollywood’s most private couple.
Britney Spears has spoken to both her mother and her two sons following her DUI arrest earlier this week, with those closest to her now rallying around the singer in the aftermath of what sources describe as an deeply emotional night.
According to TMZ, Lynne Spears called her daughter as soon as she heard about the arrest, with the conversation between the two described as “positive” and “hopeful.”
Britney also spoke to her sons Sean Preston, 20, and Jayden James, 19, after being released from jail on Thursday morning, though she has not yet seen any family members in person.
The outreach comes at a particularly raw moment.
Spears was pulled over near the Borchard Road off-ramp in Newbury Park, Ventura County, at around 9:28 p.m. on Wednesday after officers reportedly observed her driving her black BMW “erratically at a high rate of speed.”
She was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol, and an insider told Page Six that officers also found an unknown substance inside her car at the time.
Her chemical test results remain pending and the investigation is ongoing. She was released at 6:07 a.m. Thursday.
Sources paint a picture of a woman who was visibly distressed throughout the process.
Spears was “crying and very tearful” while being booked, according to Page Six.
“She was incredibly emotional,” a source told the outlet. “It’s been a very hard couple of months.” The same insider said Spears “felt ashamed and embarrassed” and is “very sorry” for what happened.
“She doesn’t want to let anyone down, including her fans. The last thing she wants is to be judged publicly all over again.”
Her manager, Cade Hudson, was blunt in his public statement, calling the incident “completely inexcusable” while expressing hope that it might mark a turning point.
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