A US court jailed Fugees founder Pras Michél for 14 years for illegally funneling foreign funds to former US President Barack Obama, in a tangled case involving a Malaysian businessman and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
In one of the strangest political stories in years, the Grammy-winning rapper befriended Malaysian financier Jho Low in 2006. Low embezzled billions in Malaysian state funds and employed Michél to divert cash to Obama’s campaign and then, in President Donald Trump’s first term, to Republicans, Bloomberg reported in 2023. Michél also became an intermediary between Washington and Beijing over a Chinese billionaire who alleged state corruption. His trial saw testimony from DiCaprio, whose film The Wolf of Wall Street was partly financed by Low.