Leonardo DiCaprio to testify against Fugees member Pras Michel
In November, Fugees member Pras Michel will officially stand trial for his part in the 1 Malaysian Development Berhad embezzlement scheme. With the involvement of several high-profile figures across multiple countries and occupations, the 1MDB had its money systematically stolen to fund several different projects, all under the supervision of Malaysian businessman Jho Low.
Pras partially used his embezzled money to contribute financially to the 2012 re-election campaign of former president Barack Obama. Another prominent beneficiary of the scheme was Red Granite Pictures, the American film production company that helped fund Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.
With that connection in place, lead actor and Wolf of Wall Street co-producer Leonardo DiCaprio has been named as one of the witnesses set to testify against Michel at his upcoming trial. DiCaprio had previously cooperated with the federal investigation and testified during the initial trial investigations back in 2019.
DiCaprio might be the most high-profile witness testifying at the trial, but he’s certainly not the only one. Among the 72 other called witnesses are former Trump White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, former deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger, and former national security advisor H.R. McMaster. Also set to testify in former RNC Finance Chairman Elliott Broidy, who was famously pardoned by former president Donald Trump in 2021.
Low was given a “special thanks” credit in the end credits of The Wolf of Wall Street. Michel doesn’t appear to have had a direct connection to the film, but his status as one of the major players in the embezzlement scheme has connected the ‘Ghetto Supastar’ singer to the illicit activities that helped fund The Wolf of Wall Street.
Michel’s trial is set to begin on November 4th.
