Fugees rapper Pras denied bail ahead of impending prison sentence
Fugees rapper Pras was sentenced to 14 years in prison last year and has been denied in his attempt at bail.
Pras was convicted of conspiracy, witness tampering, failing to register as an agent of China, and other counts in 2023.
He was accused of orchestrating a foreign influence campaign to get the US to drop an investigation into fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low.
On January 22nd, a judge wasn’t convinced that Pras should remain on bail while he fights his conviction.
According to Rolling Stone, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that the appeal didn’t meet the burden required to overcome the presumption that he should be detained.
However, Pras was allowed a two-month delay to surrender himself. He will now be required to report on March 30th instead of January 27th.
In a statement, his spokesperson, Erica Dumas, previously said, “This wasn’t a fair trial. This was a coronation of guilt. We’re confident the appeals court will recognise this case for what it is, an unprecedented trial that denies Pras’ constitutional right to an impartial jury.”
His attorneys added, “If decided in Michel’s favour,” the “substantial questions” outlined in the filing “would result in a new trial, reversal of nearly every count, and, at a minimum, a reduced sentence that would likely be less than the duration of Michel’s appeal.”
Pras was sentenced in November. In addition to the 14-year sentence, he was handed three years’ probation and ordered to pay $64 million to the government.
His legal team claimed that the decades-long sentence prosecutors were seeking was “typically reserved for terrorists who murder innocents and the heads of the largest Mexican drug cartels.”