WASHINGTON — A Fugees rapper on trial in a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign finance and overseas affect case was making an attempt to reinvent himself as he entered the political area, not break any legal guidelines, protection attorneys mentioned Monday.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel grew to become a best-selling, Grammy-winning artist with the Nineties hip-hop group the Fugees, however within the years after its breakup was on the lookout for his subsequent chapter, legal professional David Kenner mentioned as he started making the protection case.

Michel surrounded himself with individuals to assist together with his transition to politics and finally entered the orbit of a rich Malaysian “playboy” however didn’t have interaction in “James Bond … cloak and dagger stuff,” he mentioned.

“There was no agreement to do anything in an unlawful way,” Kenner mentioned.

Michel is charged in political conspiracies underneath two completely different U.S. presidents. Federal prosecutors say he funneled cash from the fugitive Malaysian financer by way of straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection marketing campaign. He’s additionally accused of making an attempt to squelch an investigation into the businessman and persuade then-President Donald Trump’s administration to return to China a “vocal critic of the government.”

The Justice Department says Michel conspired with Low Taek Jho, normally often known as Jho Low. The fugitive financier is accused of masterminding a cash laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions from the Malaysian state funding fund often known as 1MDB. Low has maintained his innocence.

Looted cash paid for jewellery and luxurious artwork and helped finance Hollywood movies like “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Actor Leonardo DiCaprio testified that Low had appeared to him to be a official businessman and had talked about desirous to donate to Obama’s marketing campaign.

When Michel first met Low at a nightclub in 2006, the businessman “appeared and acted as though he had unlimited amounts of money,” Kenner mentioned. Michel would later generate income himself by way of his affiliation with Low, however “making money, even if you consider it greedy, is not a crime.”

Prosecutors, alternatively, say Low directed tens of millions to Michel, who funneled the cash to straw donors to offer to the Obama reelection marketing campaign in 2012. He later tried to lean on the donors to maintain them from speaking to investigators, prosecutors mentioned.

In 2017, prosecutors say, the Grammy-winning rapper labored with a Republican “fixer” to try to shut down a U.S. investigation into Low and embezzlement from the Malaysian fund. He’s additionally accused of pushing the Trump administration to ship a Chinese one who had fled to the U.S. again to China.

The protection says he tried to arrange a gathering on that subject, however nobody ever advised him he ought to have registered as a overseas agent earlier than doing so, Kenner mentioned.

“What he was trying to do was go through the proper channels,” he mentioned.

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