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The musician, convicted on federal conspiracy charges, was set to appear in court to discuss how much money he will have to forfeit to the government<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\tThe Fugees<\/a>\u2019 Pras<\/a> Michel underwent emergency surgery for colon cancer last week, postponing legal proceedings in his foreign lobbying and conspiracy case<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n\tMichel was convicted<\/a> back in 2023 on an array of charges \u2014 such as money laundering, illegal lobbying, witness tampering, and campaign finance violations \u2014\u00a0 for his role in a multimillion-dollar government influence campaign<\/a> that involved the Obama and Trump administrations. (Michel has repeatedly denied the charges<\/a>.) The hearing scheduled for last Friday, Aug. 29, was part of Michel\u2019s sentencing and was meant to address how much money he will have to forfeit to the government.<\/p>\n \n\tBut late last month, Michel\u2019s lawyers stated in a filing that the musician had \u201cexperienced a significant medical concern for which he is seeking medical treatment,\u201d adding that this would \u201cprevent\u201d him from attending the Aug. 29 court date.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a statement shared with Rolling Stone<\/em>, Michel\u2019s rep, Erica Dumas, revealed that the medical emergency was related to Michel\u2019s colon cancer diagnosis. \u201cDue to emergency surgery to treat colon cancer, Pras was unable to appear at Friday\u2019s scheduled sentencing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are hopeful for his swift healing and recovery during this challenging chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe conspiracy case against Michel stemmed from the musician\u2019s relationship with Malaysian financier Jho Low<\/a>, who\u2019s accused of embezzling at least $4.5 billion from the 1MDB Malaysian development fund. (Low is still at large.) Michel was accused of helping Low run foreign-influence campaigns against the U.S., such as funneling money from Low to Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign, as well as lobbying Donald Trump\u2019s administration to drop an investigation into Low and extradite the dissident Chinese billionaire.\u00a0<\/p>\n