{"id":618522,"date":"2026-05-02T03:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/618522\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T03:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:31:09","slug":"fugees-rapper-pras-reports-to-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/618522\/","title":{"rendered":"Fugees rapper Pras reports to prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAFFORD, Ariz (AP) \u2014 Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d Michel<\/a> of the Fugees has reported to federal prison to begin a 14-year sentence following a conviction over illegally funneling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign. <\/p>\n

Michel reported to prison Thursday, a spokesperson said, with federal records listing him as an inmate at a low-security correctional institution in Arizona. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a painful day for Pras, for his family, and for everyone who believes in a fair system of justice. Pras honors the legal process as he reports to begin his sentence,\u201d said Erica Dumas, a spokesperson for Michel, adding that his legal team is still contesting his charges. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis chapter is difficult, but it is not his final one,\u201d Dumas said. <\/p>\n

Michel, 53, was convicted<\/a> in 2023 on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. He was sentenced late last year. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors said he obtained over $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho \u2014 also known as Jho Low \u2014 and steered some of that money through straw donors to Obama\u2019s campaign. Michel also tried to end a U.S. Justice Department investigation of Low, tampered with two witnesses and perjured himself at trial, prosecutors said. Low has maintained his innocence. <\/p>\n

Michel was a founding member of the Fugees along with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, with the group going on to win two Grammy Awards and selling tens of millions of albums. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAFFORD, Ariz (AP) \u2014 Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d Michel of the Fugees has reported to federal prison to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[1017,2224,3830,8833,88,268254,793,3073,157968,100330,216,2005,1999,157969,2825,795,195462],"class_list":["post-618522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-arizona","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-az-state-wire","tag-barack-obama","tag-entertainment","tag-erica-dumas","tag-general-news","tag-indictments","tag-jho-low","tag-lauryn-hill","tag-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-prakazrel-pras-michel","tag-prisons","tag-u-s-news","tag-wyclef-jean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}