A judge ruled Pras Michel faces 15 to 19½ years in prison after siding with prosecutors on key sentencing enhancements.
Pras Michel’s sentencing prospects grew far more serious this week after a Washington, D.C., judge ruled the former Fugees rapper faces between 15 and 19½ years in federal prison for his role in a sprawling foreign lobbying and campaign finance conspiracy tied to Malaysian billionaire Jho Low.
In an 18-page order filed November 4, 2025, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly settled a long-running dispute between federal prosecutors and Michel’s defense team over how to calculate his punishment under federal sentencing guidelines.
The ruling, which does not impose a final sentence, determines the severity of Michel’s punishment when sentencing takes place later this year.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly sided with prosecutors on several key enhancements, agreeing that Michel obstructed justice, laundered illicit funds, and acted as an unregistered foreign agent.
Those findings established a sentencing range of roughly 15 to 19½ years, a significant setback for the defense, which had argued Michel should face no more than five to six years.
Michel’s attorneys had claimed the Grammy-winning artist was “a political novice manipulated by foreign billionaires and self-serving intermediaries,” and that his conduct didn’t warrant such severe penalties.
But the judge disagreed, writing that the defense’s argument “understates the severity of the offenses and the defendant’s role in advancing them.”
The decision follows Michel’s 2023 conviction on 10 felony counts, including conspiracy, illegal foreign lobbying, witness tampering, and campaign finance violations.
Prosecutors said he took tens of millions of dollars from Low, a fugitive financier accused of looting Malaysia’s 1MDB fund and funneling it into U.S. political donations to curry favor with former President Barack Obama and President Trump and other government officials.
This is the latest legal setback for Pras.
