Pras From The Fugees Is Currently Under Indictment For Trying To Bribe The Government Into Extraditing A Chinese Billionaire
The Fugees were one of the defining acts of the ’90s, but it’s fair to say that they’ve gone on to some unusual solo careers. Wyclef Jean has been accused of stealing millions of dollars in charitable donations following the 2010 Haitian Earthquake, while Lauryn Hill usually insists on showing up for concerts three months late and in the wrong country. But for pure weirdness, neither can match their former bandmate Pras, who is currently being charged with trying to bribe the president into pardoning a fugitive financier.
Pras’s problems started when he met a guy named Jho Low, who made his money the old-fashioned way—by befriending the Malaysian prime minister’s sleazy stepson. Prime Minister Razak was so impressed by the young man that he appointed him an adviser to the country’s 1MDB investment fund. Over the next few years, billions of dollars were looted from the fund and transferred to the private bank accounts of Razak’s family and Low. For his part, Low used the money to live the high life, paying celebrities like Paris Hilton millions of dollars to hang out with him. He even produced The Wolf of Wall Street, apparently mostly as a way to cozy up to Leonardo di Caprio, who regularly partied with Low, including a memorable New Year’s Eve when the pair welcomed the new year in Australia, then jumped on Low’s private jet with Jamie Foxx and Jonah Hill and flew across the international date line to do the countdown to midnight all over again in Las Vegas.