The Private Diplomacy of Pras Michél
How the rapper got mixed up in a global financial scandal.
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Music fans know Pras Michél as one-third of ’90s superstar group the Fugees, who sold his stake in their catalog for an undisclosed sum. Michél is also a connector, a guy who can serve as a bridge between Washington and the entertainment industry, particularly when it comes to fundraising. The US government knows him as a valuable potential informant who they couldn’t flip, a man now facing 10 federal charges such as witness tampering and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. As unlikely as it sounds, Michél allegedly tried to influence key relationships between the US and China, as well as extract money from a fugitive Malaysian businessman.