A founding member of the Fugees has been charged with illegally funneling money to Obama's 2012 campaign

(Image credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 11 May 2019

With the constant swirl of news about the 2016 election, it's easy to forget that most campaigns are marred by some form of scandal, though often on a smaller scale. That holds true for former President Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign, although Obama himself has not been implicated in anything nefarious.

Instead, Prakazrel "Pras" Michel, a founding member of the hip-hop group the Fugees, has been charged in a campaign finance conspiracy involving illegally funneling money to Obama's 2012 run, which he eventually won. The indictment accuses Michel of conspiring with fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho to make campaign contributions. Low reportedly transferred more than $21 million from overseas to the rapper, who then doled out $865,000 to a network of donors who made contributions to a "Candidate A," who is clearly Obama, The New York Times reports.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.