Fugees founding member Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegally funneling foreign money to Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Fugees founding member Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in federal prison.
A Washington, D.C., jury determined he illegally funneled millions in foreign money to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, a sprawling political scandal that prosecutors say involved lies, secret influence and the misuse of more than $100 million.
Michel, 52, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.
His defense attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, pushed back on the ruling, arguing his client’s punishment far exceeds similar cases.
He noted in a statement to Fox News Digital that Michel’s 168-month sentence is “three years more than Senator Menendez, who provided clandestine military assistance to Egypt while he was the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee.”
Zeidenberg said the verdict “was unsupported by the evidence” and the sentence “completely disproportional to the facts alleged”, especially compared to others involved in the scheme.
“Elliott Broidy was pardoned, George Higginbotham got three months’ probation and Nicki Lum Davis received 24 months”, he said.
“There simply is no justification for Mr. Michel being singled out like this except for the penalty for opting for trial”, Zeidenberg said. “We will appeal.
