Pras Michel, a member of the Fugees, underwent emergency surgery for colon cancer last week, postponing his sentencing hearing in a federal conspiracy case.
In 2023, Michel was convicted on multiple charges, including money laundering, illegal lobbying, witness tampering, and campaign finance violations.
These were for his role in a multimillion-dollar government influence campaign that involved the Obama and Trump administrations. Per Rolling Stone, He has repeatedly denied the charges.
The sentence hearing, originally scheduled for August 29th, was intended to address the amount of money Michel would be required to forfeit to the government. However, not long before the scheduled court date, his legal team informed the court Michel had experienced a “significant medical concern for which he is seeking medical treatment”, preventing his attendance.
In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, Michel’s rep, Erica Dumas, confirmed that the medical emergency was related to his colon cancer diagnosis.
“We are hopeful for his swift healing and recovery during this challenging chapter,” she said.
The conspiracy case stems from Michel’s involvement with Malaysian financier Jho Low, who is accused of embezzling at least $4.5 billion from the 1MDB Malaysian development fund. Low is still at large.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
Michel allegedly assisted him in running foreign-influence campaigns against the U.S., including funnelling money from Low to Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, as well as lobbying Trump’s administration to drop an investigation into Low.
Prosecutors are seeking a lengthy prison sentence for Michel and demanding he forfeit over $64 million to the government.
Michel’s lawyers are arguing for a smaller sentence of just 36 months, and content that the forfeiture amount is excessive.
A new hearing is scheduled for October 3rd, with a final sentencing date yet to be determined.
