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On Thursday, a federal judge sentenced Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel to 14 years in prison for his role in funneling million of dollars of illegal foreign campaign contributions to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. 

The sentencing by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly comes more than a year after the Grammy-winner was found guilty on 10 counts, including conspiracy, concealment of material facts, making false entries in records, witness tampering, and serving as an unregistered agent of a foreign power. 

“As proven at trial, the defendant engaged in an extensive conspiracy to use millions of dollars in foreign funds to engage in illegal back-channel lobbying and make unlawful campaign contributions,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said after Michel was convicted in April 2023. “Today’s verdict demonstrates that anyone who engages in unlawful foreign-sponsored efforts to influence American officials, our elections, or the criminal justice system will be brought to justice.”

Michel, 53, obtained more than $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low) and then directed that money toward Obama’s campaign via straw donors. He also tried to use his influence halt a 2017 Justice Department investigation into Low. Low was one of the financiers behind Martin Scorsese’s award-winning movie The Wolf of Wall Street.  

Michel’s attorney Peter Zeidenberg called the sentence “disproportionate” and said his client plans to appeal, the AP reports. 

“Throughout his career Pras has broken barriers,” Michel’s representative Erica Dumas said in a statement to Variety. “This is not the end of his story. He appreciates the outpouring of support as he approaches the next chapter.”

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