Pras Michel Could’ve Been Served With a Life Sentence for His Illegal Donations

Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel "Pras" Michel made a name for himself as one of the founding members of The Fugees. Along with his fellow group members Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, Pras created several memorable hip-hop and R&B hits, including "Ready or Not," and their covers of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," and Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry."

Unfortunately, Pras's legacy in the music industry has been overshadowed by his criminal activity. In November 2025, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison following a lengthy trial. So, what did Pras do? Here's what to know.

Pras's November 2025 conviction was part of a political money scam he was involved in during President Barack Obama's second reelection campaign. According to AP, he was convicted of funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to the campaign. In April 2023, Pras was convicted by a federal jury of of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

The conviction led to a trial that included Leonardo DiCaprio braving the stand as a witness, along with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Leonardo and Pras worked closely with Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low, who funded The Wolf of Wall Street. Pras obtained over $120 million from Low, which he used towards Obama's campaign. According to the Justice Department, he distributed the cash to roughly 20 straw donors, who then gave it to the Obama campaign.

Though Pras's sentence sees him possibly spending over a decade in prison, he initially faced being behind bars for the rest of his life. Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence for the rapper, 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," the Justice Department further shared.

Pras's defense attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, fought against the life sentence request. He claimed a life sentence would've been an "absurdly high" punishment for Pras, stating such an offense 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," his legal team wrote.

Zeidenberg also shared in a statement that he and Pras are working to appeal his conviction and sentence, stating they believed that him even serving 14 years is "completely disproportionate to the offense."

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 AI 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