Jury Finds Obama Received Illegal Campaign Donations
Originating From Foreign Financier










A rap artist, once part of the 1990s group The Fugees, was Wednesday convicted of funneling campaign
contributions from a Malaysion billionaire to presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was charged in May 2019 with allegedly orchestrating and concealing a campaign
contribution scheme, according to a Department of Justice press release. The scheme allegedly funneled
millions of dollars belonging to Low Taek Jho, 39, also known as Jho Low, into the U.S. presidential campaign.
Michel concealed the source of the money, according to a 2022 federal indictment issued in the District of Columbia.

Jho ran 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund connected to his country’s then-prime minister
Najib Razak, allegedly siphoned more than $4 billion from the fund. The campaign contributions were
allegedly an attempt to have legal proceedings against Low and others related to the 1MDB scandal dropped.


The Western Journal further reported:

Quote:A Fugees rapper accused in multi-million-dollar political
conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted Wednesday
after a trial that included testimony ranging from actor
Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was accused of funneling money from a
now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to
Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, then trying to squelch
a Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition
case on behalf of China under the Trump administration.

A jury in Washington, D.C., federal court found him guilty of all
charges, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent
of a foreign government.

The defense argued the Grammy-winning rapper from the 1990s
hip-hop group the Fugees simply wanted to make money and got
bad legal advice as he reinvented himself in the world of politics.

Michel declined to comment after the verdict, but his attorney said
he’s “extremely disappointed” in the outcome of the case and plans
to appeal.

“This is not over,” attorney David Kenner said. “I remain very,
very confident, we will ultimately prevail.”

Michel first met Malaysian financer Low Taek Jho in 2006, when the
businessman usually known as Jho Low was dropping huge sums of
money and hobnobbing with the likes of Paris Hilton. Low helped finance
Hollywood films, including “The Wolf of Wall Street.” DiCaprio testified
Low had appeared to him as a legitimate businessman and had mentioned
wanting to donate to Obama’s campaign.

Michel also testified in his own defense. He said Low wanted a picture
with Obama in 2012 and was willing to pay millions of dollars to get it.
Michel agreed to help and used some of the money he got to pay for
friends to attend fundraising events. No one had ever told him that
was illegal, he said.

Prosecutors said Michel was donating the money on Low’s behalf, and
later tried to lean on the straw donors with texts from burner phones
to keep them from talking to investigators.

After the election of Donald Trump, prosecutors say Michel again took
millions to halt an investigation into allegations Low masterminded a
money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions from the
Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB. Low is now an
international fugitive and has maintained his innocence.

Michel also got paid to try and persuade the U.S. to extradite back to
China a government critic suspected of crimes there without registering
as a foreign agent, prosecutors said.

On that charge, the defense pointed to testimony from Sessions, who
was Trump’s top law enforcement officer until he resigned in 2018.
Sessions said he’d been aware the Chinese government wanted the
extradition but didn’t know Michel. The rapper’s ultimately futile efforts
to arrange a meeting on the topic didn’t seem improper,
the former attorney general said.