What is Pras Michél's Net Worth?
Pras Michél is an American rap artist, producer, and actor who has a net worth of $20 million. Pras Michél is probably best known for being a member of The Fugees alongside Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill. The Fugees released two studio albums: "Blunted on Reality" in 1994 and "The Score" in 1996. "The Score" was their most successful album, selling over 22 million copies worldwide and winning two Grammy Awards in 1997. Outside of the Fugees, Pras recorded two especially notable hits; "Ghetto Superstar" and "We Are Trying to Stay Alive" (which was featured on Wyclef's smash-hit album "The Carnival." Pras has also been quite active in Hollywood, appearing in a number of movies over the years as an actor. In addition, Michel has explored various opportunities as a film producer.
Unfortunately, in recent years Pras has earned more headlines for his involvement in a financial scandal rather than his music and film career. Pras is one of a handful of celebrities who were swept up in the Malaysian 1MDB scandal, which was perpetrated by fake billionaire Jho Low. Low reportedly siphoned billions of dollars from the Malaysian government and then used those funds to pay for an unimaginably lavish lifestyle. In addition to buying art and financing Leonardo DiCaprio's movie "The Wolf of Wall Street," Jho reportedly used Pras as an intermediary to prevent his prosecution by the US government. Pras was indicted in 2021 by Federal prosecutors, and as much as $95 million was seized from his accounts, money the US government alleged originated from Low. More on this scandal later in this article.
Early Life
Prakazrel Samuel Michel was born on October 19th, 1972, in New York City. Raised in a family with Haitian roots, Michel became interested in music from an early age and was raised in Irvington, New Jersey. During his teen years, he and Lauryn Hill attended the same high school together in Maplewood. By the late 80s, Pras and Lauryn had connected with Wyclef Jean. Together, the three artists started rehearsing together with Ronald Khalis Bell supervising the group. Bell was known at the time for being Kool and the Gang's producer.
During his blossoming music career, Michel was attending Rutgers and Yale, working on a double-major in Philosophy and Psychology.
The Fugees
First of all, Pras, Hill, and Jean created a group called The Rap Translators. By the mid-90s, however, they had renamed themselves The Fugees. By 1994, they started recording their first album together, entitled "Blunted on Reality." However, it wasn't until 1996 that they achieved mainstream success with the album "The Score." This album achieved multi-platinum status and propelled Pras to worldwide fame.
At this point, Michel also started to branch out with solo work. His first full-length LP featured the hit "Ghetto Superstar," which was a collaboration with Mya and Ol' Dirty Bastard. This hit made it into the top ten by 1999, and Pras eventually performed the song at the World Music Awards that year. The song was also featured in the movie "Bulworth." Finally, the track also charted extremely well in the United Kingdom, reaching the number-two spot by 1998.
Over the years, Pras continued to work with The Fugees while also cultivating his solo career. During the 2000s, he collaborated with DeDe to release "Turn On You," and he also collaborated with Swami on his album "Equalize."
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Film Career
During this period, Pras also became increasingly active in the world of film. He made his first cameo appearance in "Mystery Men," and this experience encouraged him to become more active in Hollywood. In 2000, he starred in the movie "Turn It Up," which sadly received an approval rating of just 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also proved to be a box office flop, generating just $1.2 million on a budget of $13 million.
However, Michel remained optimistic and appeared in "Higher Ed" in 2002. That year, he also appeared in the film "Go For Broke" and acted as a producer. Over the next few years, Pras continued to appear in movies like "The Mutant Chronicles." In 2006, he created a documentary called "Skid Row, Los Angeles," which focused on his experiences posing as a homeless person in Los Angeles. In 2009, he released a documentary called "Paper Dreams," which focused on the pirate problem in Somalia. During filming, his boat was invaded, and he was taken hostage by pirates. The documentary was never released.
Another documentary was released in 2015, entitled "Sweet Micky For President." Focusing on the struggles of Michel Martelly as he attempted to become President of Haiti, the documentary was eventually released in 2015 at the Slamdance Music Festival.
Relationships
In 2014, it was reported that Severiano was taking Pras to court in an effort to raise her child support payments from $3,000 per month to $7,000 per month. She claimed that her son was living in a very tiny living space and that she was acting purely on his behalf. At the time, court documents revealed that Pras was earning about $1 million per year.
Real Estate
In 2014, it was reported that Pras was involved in a $2.2 billion bid to buy New York's Plaza Hotel. Pras joined celebrities like David Sugarman to form a group that submitted the bid together. The seller was no other than Subrata Roy, who was serving a prison sentence at the time.
Despite this investment, Pras was actually renting at the time, reportedly spending five figures per month on homes in Soho and Los Angeles.
1MDB Scandal
Pras is one of a handful of celebrities who became entangled in the 1MDB investment fund scandal. The fund, which was operated by a fugitive named Jho Low, allegedly siphoned billions from the Malaysian government. Hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on parties, yachts, private jets, film production, and more. According to the US Justice Department, Pras allegedly opened bank accounts at American financial institutions to finance an illegal lobbying effort to get the Justice Department to drop its investigation into 1MDB.
Pras has denied all wrongdoing. The US government initially sought a civil forfeiture of $38 million that they allege can be traced directly to Pras' financial activities. The US government reportedly ended up seizing $95 million for Pras, money which prosecutors claimed originated from Jho Low.
It would later be alleged that Jho sent Pras $21 million at one point, and at least $2 million of those funds were then used to support President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. Thanks to his contributions through Pras, Jho was even invited to the White House Christmas party, where he took a photo with Barack and Michelle Obama in front of their Christmas tree. The Obamas later mailed him an autographed copy of the photo.
In 2021, Federal prosecutors charged Pras Michel with ten offenses, including witness tampering and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
