The story of former Fugees member Pras Michél just seems to keep getting weirder. In 2023, Michél was found guilty in a political conspiracy case involving the Malaysian fugitive Jho Low, who stole billions of dollars from the 1MDB fund, which is owned by the Malaysian state. Low is now a fugitive, believed to be hiding in China. Michél was charged and convicted of a number of offenses, including conspiracy, witness tampering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. In his trial, Leonardo DiCaprio testified for the prosecution.
Variety reports that Mark Wahlberg and his Unrealistic Ideas company have reached a documentary deal with Pras Michél. Wahlberg and Unrealistic Ideas president Archie Gips will produce film, which will supposedly explore Michél's musical career and the toll that this conspiracy case has taken on him. Wahlberg refers to Michél as "a legend" and says, "I’m rooting for Pras and excited to tell his story." In the Variety article, there's a picture of Wahlberg and Michél posing together. Another producer on the film is Erica Dumas, the crisis publicist that Michél hired.
Variety reports, "The doc will include footage Michél shot on his phone during pivotal moments in the saga, like a meeting in China with a top CCP official who was sentenced to death by the Chinese government in 2022 for taking bribes."
Here's a Pras Michél quote from a previous Variety article, in which he talks about federal agents showing up to an unidentified friend's house:
Look, you get a call, FBI show up to your place -- I don’t care who you are, your heart is going up your throat. They’re like, "Hey, we just got a couple of questions for you. So can we come in?" Who’s going to say no? So he let them in. The wife comes, sits in the living room, don’t know what’s going on, but she’s scared. And at some point, one of the agents goes, "What’s that? Do you smell that?" The wife defecated on herself. She was that scared. And the wife later told my friend, "If you ever speak to Pras again, I’ll take my three daughters, and you’ll never see us again."
Anytime you can make a documentary scene out of your friend's wife shitting on herself during an FBI interrogation, you need to do it. That's just how storytelling works. Michél, currently awaiting sentencing and looking at a possible 22 year-sentence, has split from the other two Fugees over the cancellation of their reunion tour. He sued Lauryn Hill and released a song dissing her, and he also tried to get a retrial, arguing that his lawyer used AI to write an underwhelming closing argument.
Michél was supposed to face sentencing last month, but it had to be delayed because he needed emergency surgery to remove colon cancer. Now, Donald Trump is reportedly considering pardoning him. Weird shit!
