The US Justice Department announced on Friday it had charged former Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel and Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, best known as “Jho Low,” for conspiring to steer illegal foreign campaign funds into the 2012 presidential election.
According to the unsealed indictment, between June 2012 and November 2012, Low directed the transfer of approximately $21.6 million from foreign entities and accounts to Michel to be funneled into the election while disguising it as legitimate campaign contributions.
US prosecutors brought additional charges against Jho Low, the Malaysian national accused of looting the 1MDB wealth fund.
According to an indictment unsealed Friday in Washington, Low transferred $21.6 million to Pras Michel, a musician and film producer, who spread approximately $865,000 among 20 people.
These straw donors, in turn, gave the cash to a presidential fundraising committee without indicating it had come from a foreign source.
Pras also sent more than $1 million to an independent election committee, prosecutors said.
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During Obama’s re-election campaign, Michel and Jho Low’s father attended a fundraiser in Washington, DC, and sat on each side of Obama, according to the indictment.
Obama’s name doesn’t appear in the indictment, which refers to him only as Candidate A. Nor is there any indication that he or the political groups knew of the foreign efforts or did anything wrong. The straw donors also weren’t identified.
Obama, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
The newest charges grew out of the Justice Department’s investigation into fraud and corruption at 1MDB. Meant to promote economic development in Malaysia, the fund was instead used as a massive slush fund by Low, an adviser to Malaysia’s then-prime minister, Najib Razak, according to U.S. prosecutors and other authorites around the world.
