Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a member of the Fugees, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in illegally directing millions of dollars in foreign funds into Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Michel, 52, declined to make a statement before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly announced the sentence on Thursday.
Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence, asserting that Michel “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.”
“His sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,” they wrote in court filings.
Defense attorney Peter Zeidenberg said the 14-year sentence imposed on his client was “completely disproportionate to the offense,” and confirmed that Michel plans to appeal both his conviction and sentence.
Zeidenberg had urged the court to impose a three-year prison term. In a prior filing, Michel’s legal team argued that a life sentence — which prosecutors had indicated was possible — would be an “absurdly high” penalty, noting that such terms are typically reserved for individuals convicted of deadly terrorism or major drug cartel activity.
“The Government’s position is one that would cause Inspector Javert to recoil and, if anything, simply illustrates just how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence,” the defense team wrote.
Meanwhile, the former president said earlier this month that Democrats should embrace socialists as an important part of their political coalition.
Speaking on the “Pod Save America” podcast, Obama urged party leaders not to impose “litmus tests” on members with differing views and described newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as “part of a vision for the future.”
“Tuesday was nice, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. And your task is going to be not to impose litmus tests,” Obama said. “We had [Democratic Virginia Gov.-elect] Abigail Spanberger win and we had Zohran Mandani win and they are all part of a vision for the future. Our job is to say that we want everybody engaged.”
He added: “And we want to have a conversation about how to make sure that every person in this country is treated with dignity and respect, and there are ladders of opportunity, and that there’s the possibility of community, and that we’re getting along not in some cliché, phonied way, but in a genuine, deep way where we recognize, yeah, we have differences, and yes, there are fights that are going to have to be fought, but that deep down there is something core in us that we have in common that is extraordinary.”
Mamdani won the mayoral race on a left-wing socialist platform that included raising taxes on corporations and wealthy residents, implementing a citywide rent freeze, providing free bus service and childcare, and establishing city-owned grocery stores.
A recent Gallup poll released Sept. 8 found that only 42% of Democrats viewed capitalism positively, while 66% expressed a favorable opinion of socialism. The following day, NewsNation political contributor Chris Cillizza cautioned on his YouTube channel that the Democratic Party’s growing embrace of socialism could jeopardize its chances in the 2028 election.
“I guess it’s not terribly surprising, but I do think if I am a Democrat who wants to win the 2028 election … That would worry me candidly because socialism broadly will not sell,” Cillizza said. “You can call it democratic socialism. You can call it whatever you want. But the idea of socialism will not sell in the country.”
