Yoopya with Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Fugees rapper Pras sued his bandmate Lauryn Hill for fraud on Tuesday over the group’s shortened 2023 reunion tour, saying she took advantage of his criminal conviction to force an unfair contract on him.
The lawsuit filed in a federal court by Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a founding member of the Fugees along with Hill and Wyclef Jean, alleges that Hill “swooped in” after his “unjust” verdict in a federal criminal conspiracy case, and he had no choice but to accept her onerous terms. And she proceeded to hide the books from him, financially defrauding and penalizing him, the lawsuit says.
The tour was presented as an anniversary celebration of Hill’s landmark 1998 album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” and it was to include a reunion of the two-time Grammy-award winning Fugees, made up of Hill, Pras, and Wyclef Jean, The pioneering progressive hip-hop group is best known for its platinum-selling 1990s hits “Ready or Not,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “Fu-Gee-La.”
“The Lord must have been off the day he paired Lauryn Hill with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, the plaintiff in this action, because the betrayal among the forged Fugees family has risen to Mythic proportions,” the lawsuit says in a dramatic introduction. “This is their tale of woe.”
The lawsuit also alleges Hill spoiled the tour by showing up hours late, and says that the tour’s true draw was the reunion, not Hill, but she “nevertheless insisted on relegating ‘The Fugees’ billing to coequal or secondary status after her name. This was the first bitter pill Michel had to swallow.”
Hill called the lawsuit “baseless” with “false claims and unwarranted attacks,” in a statement to The Associated Press. She wrote that the lawsuit “notably omits that he was advanced overpayment for the last tour and has failed to repay substantial loans extended by myself as an act of goodwill,” totaling $3 million, putting him in breach of contract.
She added that the 2023 tour was put together as a solo celebration of her album, and it would have taken place with the Fugees or not.
Hill said that the Fugees were added to the tour because she discovered Pras was “in trouble and would need money to aid his legal defense.”
Hill also said she “absorbed most of the expenses myself, produced the show, put together the entire set … Pras basically just had to show up and perform.”
In April of last year, Pras was found guilty of 10 counts related to multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies, including charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
In a trial that included testimony from Leonardo DiCaprio and a range of other prominent figures, Michel was accused of funneling money from a Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, then trying to squelch a U.S. Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition case on behalf of China under the Trump administration.
He faces up to 20 years in prison. He is free ahead of sentencing, which has not yet been set.
After his conviction, Michel’s attorney, David Kenner, pleaded guilty to leaking grand jury information to reporters, and he was left without representation.
Needing to pay for attorneys, Michel accepted unfair terms so he could receive an advance on his share of tour money and accepted a deal he had rejected for a proposed 2021 reunion tour, his lawsuit says.
“Ms. Hill misrepresented critical financial information and concealed her intent to take an excessive 60% share of the tour’s proceeds, leaving Mr. Michel with only 20% instead of the group’s customary one-third split,” Michel’s attorney Robert S. Meloni said in a statement.
The lawsuit also alleges Hill unilaterally rejected a $5 million offer for the Fugees to perform at the Coachella festival because No Doubt would receive a higher billing.
The lawsuit asks that a judge void the tour contract and order an accounting of its finances. It seeks both actual and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
Author:
MARIA SHERMAN | Music Journalist