Ready or not, here come the feds. Former Fugees rapper Pras Michel and fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low are accused in a new indictment of illegally lobbying the Trump administration to drop an investigation.
According to CNBC, the Brooklyn-born “Ghetto Supastar” Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, and Malaysian businessman, Low Taek Jho “Jho Low,” spent the last few months of Donald Trump’s presidency lobbying for his administration to end a probe of 1Malaysia Development Berhad that allegedly leads to Low’s embezzlement of the country-owned investment firm.
In the lawsuit filed Friday by the DOJ, the pair conspired with Nickie Lum Davis and Elliot Broidy, a former GOP fundraiser who was pardoned by Trump, to obstruct a federal probe into the $6 billion bribery and money-laundering scandal surrounding 1MDB according to theGrio.
U.S. Entertainer/Businessman and Malaysian National Charged with Back-Channel Lobbying Campaign to Drop 1MDB Investigation and Remove Chinese Dissident from U.S.https://t.co/WiUq7m6RL3
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) June 11, 2021
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Their goal was for “both to have the 1MDB embezzlement investigation and forfeiture proceedings involving Low and others dropped and to have a Chinese dissident sent back to China.” The fund was initially established to help promote the economy in the developing country. However, it was instead treated like a “slush fund” by Jho Low.
Both Michel and Low were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with a money-laundering conspiracy. The former Fugee was also accused of witness tampering and conspiracy to make false statements to banks. Low is accused of “masterminding a massive diversion of cash from Malaysia’s 1MDB wealth fund.”
The civil suit claims Pras and the ex-DOJ official, George Higginbotham, last year helped Low funnel $73 million into four US bank accounts in a scheme to pay off other DOJ officials in the hope of influencing a criminal investigation.
Michel’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said in a statement:
“Pras intends to defend this case very vigorously and believes that when all of the facts are developed, a jury will conclude that this was a selective prosecution that has unfairly targeted Mr. Michel and will exonerate him.”
