Hip-hop star Pras Michel, a member of the Fugees, was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for illegally funneling foreign contributions to former US President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, according to US media.

In April 2023, Haitian-American artist Prakazrel Michel, known as Pras, 53, was found guilty of participating in an influence campaign led by a Malaysian financier, at the heart of a vast corruption scandal.

Between 2012 and 2017, the hip-hop star allegedly received more than $120 million from Malaysian Low Taek Jho, considered the mastermind of the 1MDB Malaysian sovereign wealth fund scandal.

According to the prosecution, this sum was used in part to finance Obama's 2012 campaign. Since donations from abroad are prohibited in the United States, they were allegedly made through front men and offshore companies.

Pras Michel had also been found guilty of conspiracy, forgery and use of forged documents, and of serving as a covert agent of a foreign government.

He was also on trial for illegal lobbying on behalf of China in 2017, during the first Trump administration. He intended to request the extradition to Beijing of the controversial businessman Guo Wengui, accused of defrauding thousands of investors of more than a billion dollars.

According to the New York Times, his lawyer Peter Zeidenberg denounced the verdict as lacking evidence and calling the sentence "completely disproportionate." He indicated that his client would appeal.

Prosecutors, for their part, had emphasized in 2024 that federal guidelines recommended a life sentence for Michel. They had requested a "severe prison sentence," according to their written submissions, which were reviewed by AFP.

They accused the musician of having "betrayed his country for money" and "lied without remorse and relentlessly to carry out his schemes".

Michel, a Brooklyn native whose parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti, is a founding member of the Fugees, alongside his childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean.

The group won two Grammy Awards at their peak in the 1990s and sold tens of millions of albums.