In a recent interview with Variety, the co-founder of the iconic hip-hop trio “The Fugees,” Pras Michel, spoke out for the first time since facing the possibility of 22 years in prison.
“The Fugees,” founded in 1990, is an N.J. group that is made up of Pras, Lauryn Hill, and Wyclef Jean.
Last April, Michel was found guilty of 10 counts in a corruption case, which linked him to $4.5 billion embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. A jury found Pras guilty of violating campaign finance laws during Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection bid and illegally lobbying the Donald Trump administration in 2017.
The government now considers him a Chinese spy, and the rapper, 52, is now facing over two decades of prison time. Michel stated in his interview with the magazine that he didn’t want to be a spy.
“I don’t know if subconsciously it was a bit exciting for me too,” Michel said. “I like spy movies, but I never wanted to be a spy. I don’t think that’s sexy. But a part of it felt like that.”
“Technically, I’m a foreign agent,” he continued.
A press release that followed shortly after the verdict from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs stated the rapper was also involved in “conspiring to make and conceal foreign and conduit campaign contributions during the 2012 U.S. presidential election.”
“Mr. Michel sought to use his celebrity and access to influence U.S. government officials on behalf of undisclosed foreign interests,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “This is an affront to the rule of law, and we will use the full range of tools at our disposal to hold accountable those who would covertly aid foreign actors seeking to interfere with our democratic system of government.”
“The Fugees” reunited for their 25th reunion at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia last year, and Michel was in attendance. Since then, the other two founding members have kept their distance from him.
The trio announced a tour to celebrate Lauryn Hill’s highly decorated album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” only to cancel the tour three days before its start. His bail prevented him from touring with the group and he acknowledged the challenges that have come from the distancing.
“I’m done with that. They’re going to Europe [to tour]. I can’t go, so,” he said in the interview. “It’s what it is. You can’t give people that kind of energy. So you could be frustrated, you could be disappointed, but I really believe in my path and in my journey, and I believe what’s mine, no one’s going to be able to take it away from me. So it’s better that you have a small group of people who really believe in you and believe in what you’re doing than to have 100 people around you, and the minute something happens — boom. People just disappear.”
Michel told Variety that he plans to fight the conviction, adding that he may end up continuing that fight in prison.
“I’m going to fight, and I’m going to appeal, but there’s a possibility that I’m going in while I’m fighting,” Michel said. “It’s just the reality.”
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