Rapper Brass Michel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegal donations to the Obama campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — Grammy Award-winning rapper Prakazrel “Bras” Michel was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison in a case in which he was found guilty of illegally diverting millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

Michel, 52, refused to speak in court before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him.

In April 2023, a federal jury convicted Michelle on 10 charges, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended life in prison for Michel, who they said “betrayed his country for money” and “lied unapologetically and relentlessly to carry out his plans.”

“His sentence must reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the dangers threatening his country, and the extent of his greed,” they wrote.

Defense lawyer Peter Zeidenberg said his client’s 14-year prison sentence was “completely disproportionate to the crime.” Michel will appeal his conviction and sentence, according to his lawyer.

Zeidenberg had recommended three years in prison. Michel’s lawyers said in a lawsuit that a life sentence would be an “extremely ridiculous” sentence for Michel considering it is usually reserved for murderous terrorists and drug cartel leaders.

“The government’s position would make Inspector Javert recoil and, if anything, simply demonstrates how easily the guidelines can be manipulated to achieve absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a just and fair sentence,” they wrote.

Michel, a Brooklyn native whose parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti, was a founding member of the Fugees along with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. Their hip-hop group has won two Grammy Awards and sold tens of millions of albums.

Michel received more than $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho — also known as Jho Low — and funneled some of that money through unofficial donors to the Obama campaign.

Michel also tried to end the Justice Department’s investigation into Le, tampered with two witnesses and perjured himself during the trial, prosecutors said.

Lu, who lived in China, was one of the main financiers of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a film starring DiCaprio. He is on the run but insists on his innocence.

“Lu’s motive for giving Mr. Michel the money for the donation was not to achieve some political goal. Instead, Lu simply wanted to get a photo with himself and then-President Obama,” Michel’s lawyers wrote.

In August 2024, the judge denied Michel’s request for a new trial based in part on his defense attorney’s use of artificial intelligence software during closing trial arguments. The judges said that and other trial errors did not amount to a serious miscarriage of justice.