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Ex-Fugees Rapper Pras Michel Part Of The Corruption Scandal That Dragged Down Goldman Sachs

Ex-Fugees Rapper Pras Michel Part Of The Corruption Scandal That Dragged Down Goldman Sachs

Billionaire Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho is on the run.  The CEO of Hong Kong-based private equity investment and advisory firm Jynwel Capital is “wanted in a global corruption probe in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) state fund,” the Star reported. Suspected to be hiding in Saint Kitts and Nevis, where he holds a citizenship, Jhud Low is wanted for embezzlement and bribery concerning the Malaysian state development fund.  And some of this money was used to produce a Hollywood film and to bribe officials in the U.S. Department of Justice.  And caught up in the international scandal is ex-Fugees rapper Prakazrel Pras Michel.

The U.S. Department of Justice is saying Michel helped Jho Low funnel $73 million into bank accounts in the United States. “According to an explosive suit filed Friday by the DOJ, the “Ghetto Superstar” singer conspired with an ex-DOJ official to thwart a federal probe into the $6 billion bribery and money-laundering scandal surrounding Malaysian playboy financier Jho Low, the DOJ alleged,” the New York Post reported.


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According to the civil suit, Pras and the ex-DOJ official, George Higginbotham, assisted Low in illegally depositing $73 million into four U.S. bank accounts as part of a plan to bribe other DOJ officials over a criminal investigation already in motion against Jho Low. The DOJ claims Higginbotham and Pras opened four different bank accounts with Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup for the purpose of funneling Jhud Low’s money. Higginbotham pleaded guilty last week to misleading banks about the source of the money.

“Jho Low’s money was funneled through various US bank accounts set up by, and under the control of, an entertainer and businessman named Prakazrel ‘Pras’ Michel,” the DOJ claimed in its civil action.

Pras Michel
From left, Prakazrel ‘Pras’ Michel, Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill, members of U.S. hip-hop band The Fugees, perform on stage during a concert at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. (AP Photo/Eddy Risch, Keystone)

 

The money was to go to an unnamed financier and his wife, in hopes the couple would urge the DOJ to drop its criminal investigation into Low. According to a   Wall Street Journal article, ex-Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy and his wife, Robin Rosenzweig, were going to get millions from Jhud Low for getting the investigation stopped. The investigation is over DOJ claims that Low used money from 1Malaysia Development Berhad to pay for his over-the-top lavish lifestyle and produce “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Broidy, a Los Angeles-based investor, helped corral big donors to support President Trump’s campaign, and after the election, he was appointed to serve as a deputy chairman for the Republican National Committee. In April, he resigned from his RNC position in the wake of a report that he had paid a former Playboy model $1.6 million in exchange for her silence about a sexual affair, the Washington Post reported.

The Federal Reserve is also investigating how Goldman Sachs was involved in funding Low’s $3 billion travel junket, “which included Basquiat paintings, luxury real estate, and financial backing for ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’”

But Michel says he is innocent.

“I have never conspired to commit any crime, nor defraud any organization, in this case or otherwise,” Michel said in a statement. “It is a shame that anyone’s name should be dragged through the mud like this, particularly another Black man who uses his voice and influence to effect change.”