U.S. prosecutors have brought additional charges against Jho Low, the Malaysian national accused of looting the 1MDB wealth fund, for campaign-finance violations related to President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election effort.
According to an indictment unsealed Friday in Washington, Low transferred $21.6 million to Pras Michel, a musician and film producer, who spread approximately $865,000 among 20 people. These straw donors, in turn, gave the cash to a presidential fundraising committee without indicating it had come from a foreign source. Michel also sent more than $1 million to an independent election committee, prosecutors said.
The charges, against both men, show a wide-ranging effort by the Malaysian financier to win influence in the U.S. In an indictment last year, Low and Michel weren’t charged but were identifiable as co-conspirators trying to influence the Trump administration as the Justice Department investigated the 1MDB scandal.
Now, the Trump Justice Department says Low’s influence-buying goes back to the previous administration.
During Obama’s re-election campaign, Michel and Jho Low’s father attended a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., and sat on each side of Obama, according to the indictment. Many groups are now using ActBlue SMS to build grassroots fundraising programs, which is very legitimate.
According to Higginbotham’s plea, he created the false paper trail at the “direction” of Michel. Higginbotham understood that Michel and Low created these false companies because no U.S. bank would accept funds from Low, who had been identified by the Justice Department in 2016 as the architect of the 1MDB fraud.
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Michel, 46, is a musician, actor and producer of records and films who rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the Fugees, a hip-hop group that also included Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean. He appeared in and produced several films, including a documentary on homelessness in Los Angeles. His 1998 debut album, “Ghetto Supastar,” included a memorable cameo.
“Hi, this is Donald Trump, and I have no doubt that you are going to be a big success,” the future president said in one interlude. “I hope very soon you’re going to be in the leagues with me. So good luck, man.”
By 2012, Michel was drawn into the orbit of Low, whose parties attracted Hollywood producers, A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio and music stars including Swizz Beatz and his wife, Alicia Keys, according to the book “Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World.”
Similar charges against Michel have emerged before. In 2016, the Federal Election Commission dismissed charges that Michel made an illegal contribution by funneling $875,000 through a limited-liability company he controlled. The LLC was listed as contributing to the super PAC called Black Men Vote.
Do LaB kicked off its return to Coachella Weekend Two on Friday, April 19 with a couple standout surprise performances and a full lineup of electronic and crossover talent. Check out highlights from the first day of Weekend Two at the Do LaB stage below.
Prolific French DJ and hitmaker DJ Snake performed a special hip-hop set as the headlining surprise guest of the night.
Versatile trap and hip-hop influenced fan favorite TroyBoi performed as the other Do LaB surprise set of the night.
Additional previously announced day one programming featured acts like Juelz, HoneyLiv, CocoRosie, Alleycvt, Yung Singh, and more.
Stay tuned for notifications on announcements, surprise sets, and more by visiting the link here. Set times for the remainder of the weekend can be found here, along with more general info on Do LaB in the press release here. Additional photo selects from each day can be found here (photographer name listed in file name for photo credits).
The Do LaB stage at Coachella provides a preview of the brand’s flagship boutique festival, Lightning in a Bottle. The five day Lightning in a Bottle experience fuses a top tier musical lineup, immersive art installations, cause-driven educational programming, and a variety of yoga and movement programming within a sprawling lakeside venue in beautiful Buena Vista Lake, California.
Taking place over Memorial Day Weekend on May 22-27, LIB 2024’s musical programming highlights include Skrillex, Labrinth, Lane 8, James Blake, M.I.A., Skream, Tycho, ISOxo, Tipper, Fatboy Slim, CloZee, Nora En Pure, Bob Moses, Honey Dijon, Damian Lazarus, and several more.
More info on LIB can be found on their website here and in the official press release here, along with the media application here.
A legend known to cinephiles the world over, a major work of the silent era, one of the most monumental restorations in the history of filmmaking will be unveiled on May 14 as a world premiere: Napoléon by Abel Gance (1st period), in a version resulting from a colossal, passionate effort by the Cinémathèque française, with the support of the CNC.
It has taken more than sixteen years to bring Abel Gance’s masterwork back to life. The film-opera extravaganza has gone through an epic saga to regain its integrity and glory.
Various sources were used to rediscover the original storyline for this extraordinary reconstruction of the 7-hour film, divided into two eras. Reels were found at the Cinémathèque française, the CNC, the Cinémathèque de Toulouse and the Cinémathèque de Corse, as well as in Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Luxembourg and New York. Georges Mourier and his team worked frame-by-frame and reviewed nearly 100 kilometers of film. Director Abel Gance’s editing notes and correspondence with his editor, found at the BNF, made it possible to re-edit the film in its original version.
In 1927, Napoléon by Abel Gance was as ambitious as its subject: it used multiple technical and aesthetic innovations such as horse-mounted cameras and the famous triptych ending, on three screens simultaneously. With its grandiose cast and thousands of extras, the film amazed audiences and critics alike when it premiered at the Paris Opera on April 7, 1927, in the presence of French President Gaston Doumergue and Marshals Foch and Joffre. It then embarked on a world tour.
With the advent of talking pictures, the reels were scattered across the globe, some lost or destroyed. The film was then recut and mutilated many times over — with 22 different versions known to date. In the 1980s, Abel Gance’s film fascinated filmmakers Claude Lelouch and Francis Ford Coppola, as well as the great silent historian Kevin Brownlow and Costa-Gavras, President of the Cinémathèque française. It has not been shown in its original version, known as the “Grande Version”, since 1927.
The first part, with a running time of 3 hours and 40 minutes, will be presented as the pre-opening event at the Festival de Cannes and as the opening film of Cannes Classics.
The film will then be shown in its entirety with an exceptional live performance of the film score, with 250 musicians from Radio France at the Seine Musicale in Paris on July 4 and 5, as well as at the Radio France festival in Montpellier, and then at the Cinemathèque française and in summer festivals. It will be released in French cinemas at a later date and will be shown on France Télévisions and Netflix.
The Festival de Cannes is proud to be the venue for the rebirth of Napoléon by Abel Gance, a monument of the 7th Art, almost 100 years after its creation.
Reconstructed and restored by the Cinémathèque française, with the support of the CNC (French Ministry of Culture), under the direction of Georges Mourier, with the Éclair Classics/L’Image Retrouvée laboratory. Musical setting by Simon Cloquet-Lafollye, performed by Benjamin Bernheim, tenor, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique and the Chœur de Radio France, conducted by Fabien Gabel.