. “Pras’s motivation was to try to assist the United States,” his attorney, David Kenner, said of Michél’s dealings with Jho Low. Low is a Malaysian national at the center of the conspiracy, who’d been close to celebrities and at one point financed. Michél reportedly first met Low in 2006 and got closer with him in 2011. Then Low allegedly began funneling money through Michél, including money to donate to the 2012 Obama campaign, which is illegal for foreign nationals.
Being tied up in the alleged conspiracy led Michél to befriend influential Republicans to lobby the Trump administration and to meet with high-powered Chinese officials, perMichél had been offered a deal to plea guilty to a felony after many of the others involved in the conspiracy took deals, but turned it down. “One of the most significant is that it would make him a felon by admitting to willful acts he didn’t believe were true,” Kenner told.