WASHINGTON — A judge rejected a push for a new trial in a multimillion-dollar political conspiracy case against rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found his defense attorney’s use of a generative AI program during closing arguments and other errors during the Washington D.C. trial didn’t amount to a serious miscarriage of justice.
Michel was found guilty of 10 counts after a jury heard testimony from witnesses ranging from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the top charges. He is free ahead of sentencing, which has not yet been set.
The Grammy-winning rapper was accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, then trying to squelch a Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition case on behalf of China under the Trump administration.
The defense argued Michel got simply bad advice as he tried to support himself while reinventing himself in the world of politics.
His defense attorney David Kenner, well known for his previous representation of rappers like Suge Knight and Snoop Dogg, later pleaded guilty to leaking grand jury information to reporters.
Michel got a new attorney who argued Kenner had made a series of mistakes, including using an “experimental” generative AI program that bungled closing arguments by misattributing a lyric from his client’s influential 1990s group.
Michel failed to show, though, that Kenner’s handling of the case prejudiced the jury, Judge Kollar-Kotelly said.
She acknowledged some of the errors Michel cited had some validity, but found that they didn’t neutralize the prosecutors’ voluminous evidence against him or make the nearly month-long trial unfair.
A representative for Michel did not have immediate comment on the ruling.