Shortly before Jamie Foxx’s medical troubles a few months ago, he was caught up in a legal situation. It has come to light that jury selection has begun in the trial of former Fugees musician Prakazrel “Pras” Michel. It is a case of multi-billion dollar corruption scheme, and a fugitive Malaysian tycoon sometimes referred to as Asia’s “Great Gatsby”.
Prosecutors allege that Michel took more than $100m (£81.4m) from Malaysian businessman Jho Low to convince former US President Donald Trump to abandon an investigation and allow the extradition of a prominent dissident to China.
Additionally, Michel stands accused of making illegal contributions to Barack Obama’s 2012 US presidential campaign, using a network of third parties paid with foreign money.
He now faces charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, and a failure to register as a foreign agent. If convicted, he faces more than 20 years in prison. Michel has denied any wilful wrongdoing in the case.
The trial was expected to last most of April – and was rumored to see Hollywood A-listers including Leonardo DiCaprio, Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, and American casino mogul Steve Wynn testify as witnesses.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is named among the list witnesses. He famously portrayed a real-life financial crook in the 2013 film “Wolf of Wall Street” – which was partially funded by a firm tied to Low.
Bloomberg has reported that Low was “especially generous” with DiCaprio and donated a $3.2m Picasso to his charity, as well as a $9.2m piece from Jean-Michel Basquiat. DiCaprio – who has not been accused of any wrongdoing – reportedly later turned those items and others received from Mr Low over to authorities. Notably, in 2019 Mr DiCaprio reportedly testified before a grand jury in Washington DC as part of the justice department’s investigation into the 1MDB case.
Other potential witnesses named include actors Jamie Foxx and Mark Wahlberg, director Martin Scorsese, and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.
