Pras Michel, Conspiracy, District of Columbia 2023

US entertainer and businessman Pras Michel, 46, and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, 37, also known as Jho Low, have been charged with conspiring to make and conceal foreign and conduit campaign contributions during the 2012 US presidential election.

According to the indictment, between June 2012 and November 2012, Low directed the transfer of approximately $21,600,000 from foreign entities and accounts to Michel for the purpose of funneling significant sums of money into the 2012 US presidential election as purportedly legitimate contributions, all while concealing the true source of the money.

Miichel also was charged with one count of a scheme to conceal material facts and two counts of making a false entry in a record in connection with the conspiracy. Michel appeared today for his arraignment before US Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey in the District of Columbia. Low remains at large.

The indictment alleges that by funneling campaign contributions through straw donors, Michel caused a presidential joint fundraising committee to submit false reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), including a false amended report in June 2013. The committee’s reports were false because they identified the straw donors, rather than Low or Michel, as the true source of the contributions.

Miichel personally directed more than $1 million of the money received from Low to an independent expenditure committee also involved in the presidential election in 2012. The indictment also alleges that in June 2015, Michel submitted a false declaration to the FEC in which he claimed that he had no reason to conceal the true source of his contributions to the independent expenditure committee in 2012, even though Michel knew that the true source of that money was Low and that Michel had funneled the foreign money into the election.

An indictment is merely a charge and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBI’s International Corruption Squad in New York is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Sean F. Mulryne and Nicole Lockhart of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

Pras Michel, whose real name is Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, was arraigned in the District of Columbia on [current date]. He is currently facing one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States government and for making foreign and conduit campaign contributions, one count of a scheme to conceal material facts, and two counts of making a false entry in a record. Michel remains presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Low remains at large and has been previously indicted in the Eastern District of New York for conspiring to launder billions of dollars and to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That case remains pending.

The exact amount of money involved in the conspiracy is approximately $21,600,000, which was transferred from foreign entities and accounts to Michel for the purpose of funneling significant sums of money into the 2012 US presidential election.

The FBI’s International Corruption Squad in New York is investigating the case and Trial Attorneys Sean F. Mulryne and Nicole Lockhart of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.