Fugees felon gets 14 years for illegal Obama donations
Platinum-selling artist Pras has been sentenced to prison following charges related to illegal foreign lobbying and conspiracy.
Prakazrel Samuel Michel, member of the huge 1990s group the Fugees, has been trapped in legal turmoil for years surrounding apparent attempts to influence presidential elections and administrations.
'There's a possibility that I'm going in while I'm fighting.'
The Fugees' 1996 album "The Score" went seven-times platinum in the United States, and even though the record hit No. 1 in seven countries, it was the group's last original release.
Michel was charged in 2019 and began his trial four years later in 2023. The three-week trial that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio was focused on multiple money-laundering schemes related to Malaysian financier Jho Low, a Billboard report revealed.
First, Michel was accused of secretly funneling $2 million from Low to Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. The donations were allegedly made through straw donors. In 2023, Michel said he received $20 million from Low, but it was only to help him get a photo with Obama. These figures were part of a $120 million total Michel received from Low, WCBV reported.
Secondly, Michel was accused of funneling money from Low to a lobbying campaign that had the goal of convincing President Trump's administration to drop an investigation into Low in 2019.
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Michel was recently ordered to forfeit over $64 million after he was found guilty for his attempts to influence the Trump administration.
'Next chapter'
A representative named Erica Dumas told Variety, "Throughout his career Pras has broken barriers. This is not the end of his story. He appreciates the outpouring of support as he approaches the next chapter."
Pras had previously told the outlet that he planned to appeal the outcome of the case, saying he was "going to fight" and "going to appeal."
"But there's a possibility that I'm going in while I'm fighting," he said. "It's just the reality."
RELATED: Grammy-Winning Singer Headed to Prison for Failing to Pay $1 Million Owed in Taxes
Tumultuous trio
The other Fugees members went on to have careers worthy of feature film.
In 2010, Wyclef Jean attempted to run for president of Haiti after a hurricane ravaged the island. He was eventually dropped from the ballot, presumably because he did not meet the country's residency requirements. It was also revealed in the process that Jean had been claiming he was three years younger than he actually was, admitting he was 40 years old, not 37.
In 2013, Lauryn Hill spent three months in prison for failing to pay around $1 million in taxes. At the time, she compared her experience in the music industry to slavery.
"I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them," she claimed. "I had an economic system imposed on me."
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Image source: Department of Homeland Security 
Image source: Department of Homeland Security
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What happened to Flight MH370, according to an aviation journalist
Aviation journalist Jeff Wise joins Pat Gray to discuss theories surrounding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing that mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014.
According to reports, the flight, which took off around midnight, unexpectedly changed courses shortly after reaching cruising altitude, and although the Malaysian military radar tracked the plane for a time, it eventually lost contact when the Boeing 777 flew over the Andaman Sea.
The search that followed is the most expensive in aviation history.
To this day, all we are left with is speculation, as there has been no conclusions regarding what exactly happened to the aircraft or why the pilot made a sudden U-turn.
“With MH370, there is actually no official explanation,” but there is a “default assumption ... that the pilot, a guy named Zaharie Ahmad Shah, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear ... just decided to commit this very elaborate and prolonged murder-suicide,” Jeff tells Pat.
Malaysian authorities have been less accepting of this narrative, however, claiming that Shah “had no motive ... didn’t leave any notes,” and “wasn’t any kind of extremist.”
What we do know for certain is that at some point early in the flight, the pilot made a U-turn at a time when the plane was no longer detectable by Malaysian air traffic control.
Although “the data is a little but fuzzy, it seems like it probably accelerated and maybe even climbed” immediately following its change of course, Jeff explains.
That means that “it’s not behaving like a plane that’s on fire [or] having some kind of problem” because if it was, we would have seen it “descending to try to land at the nearest possible airport,” he continues.
Which means that the rerouting of the flight was most likely intentional and premeditated, which fits with the pilot-suicide theory.
However, if the flight was already routed over the ocean on its original path to China, why not “just go ahead and do it there?” Keith asks.
Jeff admits that “there’s problems with [the pilot-suicide theory].” He then reveals something he thinks is “the core of the mystery” but has been essentially dismissed by most investigators.
To hear his theory, watch the full clip below.
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