US charges Ex-Fugees rapper, Malaysian businessman Low over funding in 2012 election
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The US Justice Department announced it had charged former Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel and wealthy Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, popularly known as “Jho Low,” for conspiring to steer illegal foreign campaign funds into the 2012 presidential election.
According to the unsealed indictment, between June 2012 and November 2012, Low directed the transfer of approximately $21.6 million (£16.6 million) from foreign entities and accounts to Michel to be funnelled into the US election while disguising it as legitimate campaign contributions.
The indictment did not reveal the identity of the presidential candidate.
However, Michel, who is a US citizen, was a well-known avid supporter of former Democratic President Barack Obama, and federal election records show he contributed money to political committees that supported Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and other Democratic committees.
Under federal election law it is a crime for foreign nationals to make political contributions in U.S. federal, state or local elections.
Michel and Low, the Justice Department alleged, conspired to circumvent the law, in part by steering foreign money from Low through “straw contributors” who purported to make legal contributions in their own names. In doing so, the indictment said they hoped they could “buy access to, and potentially influence with a candidate, the candidate’s campaign and the candidate’s administration.”
Low remains at large.
“Mr. Low is innocent — and he is presumed innocent under US law,” a spokesperson for Low, through his attorneys, said in a statement. “Mr. Low has never made any campaign contributions directly or indirectly in the US and he unequivocally denies any involvement in or knowledge of the alleged activities.”
Low faces separate criminal charges in the United States in connection with a multi-billion-dollar scandal at Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Low has been identified by Malaysian and US investigators as a central figure in the alleged theft of about $4.5 billion from 1MDB.