US justice announced Friday indictment for illegal financial contributions to the 2012 Barack Obama election campaign by Pras Michel, a member of the rap group The Fugees, and a Malaysian financier suspected of corruption.
The 46-year-old Haitian-American musician is accused of receiving more than 20 million dollars (17.8 million euros) in 2012 from the Malaysian Low Taek Jho, 37, considered the mastermind of the vast scandal of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
20 nominees to donate to Barack Obama's campaign
According to the indictment, Pras Michel donated some of this money for contributions to the presidential campaign, hiding the origin of funds. He notably used 20 nominees, responsible for donating 865,000 dollars (770,000 euros) and paid a million in his own name.
The US press said the funds went to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. "The goal of Michel and Low was to gain access, and potentially influence, to the candidate and his government" who did not know where the money came from, according to the indictment.
A false declaration in 2015
Asked in 2015 about these donations, the musician made a false statement, "while he knew that the origin of the money was Low and that he had introduced foreign money in the election," in violation campaign finance laws, says the Justice Department in a statement. Pras Michel appeared before a judge in Washington on Friday for a procedural hearing, during which he pleaded not guilty.
Low Taek Jho is on the run. One of his spokespersons defended his "innocence". "Mr. Low has never made direct or indirect contributions to an election campaign in the United States," he said in a statement.
Low Taek Jho already involved in the 1MDB scandal
The Malaysian is the subject of another indictment for corruption and money laundering in the 1MDB case. Billions of dollars have been looted from this sovereign wealth fund, which is supposed to contribute to Malaysia's economic development. Low Taek Jho and others are believed to have used this money to buy luxury residences, yachts, works of art and to invest in film production, including The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio. The scandal has resulted in multiple judicial investigations and contributed to the fall of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, himself charged with corruption.