Former Fugees star Pras Michel may be a “Ghetto Superstar” but he wants to remain a living one – and he’s not taking any chances.
Michel, 47, wore a full hazmat suit, complete with gloves, a hoodie, mask and protective foot booties to court recently to protect himself from covid-19. He appeared in the full Tyvek gear at Manhattan Family Court Monday, Sept. 21, after an intern who’d been working there tested positive for covid-19.
Born Prakazrel Michel, the Grammy-award winner was there to settle an ongoing child support dispute with ex-girlfriend Angela Severiano, with whom he shares nine-year-old son Landon, according to GruntStuff.
Michel owed Severiano $127,000 in child support, which he said he fell behind on after running into prior legal trouble and having $74 million of his money seized by the feds, according to PageSix. He stopped making his $4,800 monthly payments in November 2018.
“This last year has been a very tough year for me and I have hit the back of the wall,” said Michel, who represented himself at that January court date.
Severiano’s attorney at the time disputed Michele’s explanation citing Instagram posts that showed him living a lavish lifestyle and sporting watches worth more than the total amount his client was owed.
Michele apologized and said he wanted “to rectify this ASAP.”
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Fast forward to September and Michel still hadn’t rectified it. During the most recent litigation, Severiano’s new lawyer, Carol Goldstein, had trouble hearing Michel through his protective gear so he pulled his scarf down to be clearer.
After furnishing receipts that totaled $25,000, Goldstein determined Michel still owed $112,000 to Severiano, but it was enough to settle the dispute and grant Michel freedom to leave on his own accord.
He said he wore the suit to take precautions for the safety of his son.
“You see how I’m dressed proper? I simply need to be sure I’m not uncovered and I don’t expose anybody,” Michel said, according to GruntStuff. “Let me step again … I simply need to watch out and [be] conscious about everybody’s security and my security.”
As Michel mentioned, the child-support case is just the latest of his legal woes. The “Ready or Not” MC is currently fighting federal charges that he “conspired with a fugitive Malaysian financier to illegally funnel foreign campaign contributions into the 2012 U.S. presidential election in a sprawling money laundering and corruption investigation,” reported The Washington Post.
Michel is accused of conspiring with an official from financier Low Taek Jho and defraud the U.S. government “by moving more than $21 million in overseas funds and funneling a portion into the election.”
Charges against Michel were first announced in 2018. He refused a plea deal and pled not guilty to the charges in May 2019.
“No, I feel I’m totally innocent,” Michel said regarding his refusal of the plea deal.
