Fugees member Pras Michel had emergency colon cancer surgery on Thursday (8/28), which had delayed his sentencing hearing on his federal courts conviction on illegal foreign lobbying and conspiracy charges.
“Pras missed Friday’s sentencing hearing while undergoing emergency surgery for colon cancer removal,” Michel’s spokeswoman Erica Dumas said. “We stand with him and his family and wish him a full recovery as he addresses this serious health matter.”
Dumas added that Pras is “recovering right now until he is in the clear and focused on spending time with his family ahead of sentencing. He still remains hopeful for his future.”
In 2023, Pras was convicted on 10 federal counts — including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government — of funnelling money from Malaysian financier Jho Low, who is now a fugitive following his embezzlement scandal, into the 2012 Barack Obama reelection campaign and subsequently trying to cover it up.
Feds are seeking $64,923,22 from Pras and a decades long sentence, while his lawyers call that ammount “grossly disproportionate to the offenses of conviction” and are asking for a 36-month sentence.