Pras Michel: The Fugee Felon | 168

Scamfluencers

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.1 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fugees founder Pras Michel is struggling to pivot to a new career when he meets Malaysian billionaire playboy and criminal mastermind Jho Low. He’s handsomely rewarded for helping Jho make political connections, but over time Jho’s asks get bigger and the implications far more serious. Eventually, Pras finds himself at the center of a global geopolitical caper involving far-right figures, an international scam, and even hostage negotiations. When Pras admits to the law he’s in over his head, they turn him into the figurehead of a wide-ranging scandal.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, scamfluencer's fans. Want to be the first to know how these wild scams unfold.
0:05.0	Join us on Patreon to get early access to episodes, add free listening, and exclusive content
0:10.7	that reveals even more of the drama. Just search for scamfluencers on Patreon and dive deeper
0:16.1	into the scandal. Sarah, I feel like everyone around our age has a very specific and profound
0:28.1	relationship with the Fugees. Do you? Oh, big time. And my two older sisters were like the age to actually listen to the Fugees. Yeah, yeah. My brother, too. This is the same thing. Yeah. You know, it's just one of those bands where you're like, I know more of their songs than I probably even realize that I can sing off by heart. Yeah. I feel like, obviously, I love music. But I love MESS. And so I love the Fugees because, like, between the secret hookups and their very public feuds, they were kind of like a disaster waiting to happen.
1:01.8	Yeah, there was drama in that band for sure. They were everywhere all the time.
1:06.3	Well, Sarah, all that drama pales in comparison with what happened after the band broke up.
1:12.4	Would you trust the least famous Fuji with an international prisoner exchange? No.
1:17.6	Well, today I'm going to tell you about how Praz Michelle became the spy no one asked for.
1:33.6	It's 2006 in New York City, and Praz, Michel is planning on having a quiet night in,
1:36.0	until he gets a call from a club promoter.
1:40.7	The promoter's a friend, and he's looking for a celebrity to come to a club and party with a billionaire tonight.
1:42.4	Praz is a tall, lanky, Haitian American in his 30s.
1:46.1	He's past the peak of his fame, but he's still a big deal.
1:49.3	He's part of the on-again, off-again rap group, The Fujis, which has won two Grammys and
1:54.1	sold over 20 million albums.
1:56.4	The Fujis disbanded back in 1997 and only recently got back together about two years ago.
2:01.6	But their reunion has been pretty tumultuous, so Praz has turned his attention to documentaries.
2:07.6	His latest project is all about the realities of poverty, but being a filmmaker isn't as lucrative as being in one of the biggest rap groups of the 90s.
2:16.6	So even though Praz doesn't drink,
2:18.6	he agrees to go to the nightclub and collect an appearance fee. Plus, he wants to help out his friend.
2:24.8	Later that night, Praz walks into PM, a dimly lit club in the meatpacking district. He
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