Rapper Michel Gets 14 Years for Illegally Aiding 1MDB’s Jho Low

Pras Michel, a Grammy-winning rapper turned political influencer, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiring to wage a back-channel lobbying campaign to end US probes of fugitive Malaysian tycoon Jho Low and other crimes.

US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotellysentenced Michel, 52, on Thursday in Washington federal court, where jurors convicted him in April 2023. The judge previously ordered him to forfeit $64.9 million.

Michel’s crimes included conspiring to illegally funnel Low’s money into the campaign of President Barack Obama in 2012 and trying to get American authorities to extradite a dissident Chinese billionaire.

Pras Michel

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

Low, who ...