{"id":453,"date":"2026-05-01T14:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/fugees-rapper-pras-michel-begins-14-year-prison-sentence-over-money-laundering-charges\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T14:43:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:43:00","slug":"fugees-rapper-pras-michel-begins-14-year-prison-sentence-over-money-laundering-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/fugees-rapper-pras-michel-begins-14-year-prison-sentence-over-money-laundering-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Fugees rapper Pras Michel begins 14-year prison sentence over money laundering charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/126772748.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Fugees rapper Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d Michel\u00a0reported to prison to begin his 14-year sentence for money laundering and illegal lobbying.<\/p>\n<p>The 53-year-old turned himself in on Thursday to the Federal Correctional Institution in Safford, Arizona, his spokesperson, Erica Dumas, confirmed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/pras-michel-fugees-turning-himself-in-1235556394\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a statement to Rolling Stone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday is a painful day for Pras, for his family, and for everyone who believes in a fair system of justice,\u201d Dumas said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Pras Michel (seen above performing at the 2023 Roots Picnic) began his 14-year prison sentence for money laundering and illegal lobbying. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Live Nation Urban<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Michel (seen above at Dr. Black\u2019s Brain Bar Super Bowl XLVIII Launch Event in 2014) reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Safford, Arizona, Thursday. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cPras honors the legal process as he reports to begin his sentence,\u201d Dumas continued, confirming they are \u201cvigorously\u201d trying to appeal the charges.<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson added that Michel\u2019s legal team \u201cbelieves the record will show that his rights were violated and the truth was obscured.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis chapter is difficult but it is not his final one,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Michel (pictured above at a charity event in 2016) is trying to appeal his conviction, his spokesperson confirmed. <span class=\"credit\">Jonathan Leibson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The spokesperson said that \u201ctoday is a painful day\u201d for Michel, who is seen above at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michel on ten criminal counts, including money laundering, illegal lobbying, witness tampering and failing to register as a foreign agent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/11\/20\/entertainment\/fugees-pras-michel-sentenced-prison-obama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to CNN.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Michel was accused in 2019 of illegally funneling millions of dollars from Malaysian financier Jho Low in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The singer also allegedly tried to impede an investigation into Low\u2019s money laundering scam and tried to persuade the U.S. to extradite a Chinese dissident, <a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/fugees-rapper-pras-turns-himself-in-to-begin-14-year-prison-sentence-11963386\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">per Entertainment Weekly.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Michel (seen above arriving at U.S. District Court in Washington, DC in March 2023) was convicted on ten criminal counts in April 2023. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The rapper (seen above outside a courthouse in Washington, DC in April 2023) was accused of illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When Michel was sentenced in November 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.206879\/gov.uscourts.dcd.206879.380.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justice Department prosecutors said <\/a>the singer \u201cbetrayed his country\u201d and \u201clied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michel was initially ordered to surrender in January, but the judge delayed his prison start date to March, before giving him another 30-day extension.<\/p>\n<p>Dumas told Rolling Stone that Michel\u2019s appeal \u201cis in the very beginning stages,\u201d noting that they\u2019re dealing with \u201ca very complicated case.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The Justice Department prosecutors said in November 2025 that Michel (seen above performing in Los Angeles in 2023) \u201cbetrayed his country.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Michel (pictured above performing with his Fugees bandmates in 1996) went to Kanye West\u2019s concert a few weeks before he turned himself in. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The spokesperson said Michel was busy during his final weeks of freedom, including attending  Kanye West\u2019s concert in Los Angeles on April 3, where he hung out in a suite with Dave Chappelle and Eryka Badu.<\/p>\n<p>Dumas also said Michel sang along during former bandmate Lauryn Hill\u2019s performance with West.<\/p>\n<p>Michel, Hill and Wyclef Jean formed the Fugees in 1990. The group won two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album for \u201cThe Score,\u201d before disbanding in 1998.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/01\/entertainment\/fugees-rapper-pras-michel-begins-14-year-prison-sentence-over-money-laundering-charges\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fugees rapper Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d Michel\u00a0reported to prison to begin his 14-year sentence for money laundering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/126772748.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}