{"id":7584,"date":"2025-08-30T09:35:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T09:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/pras-michel-must-repay-6-5m-judge-says-but-didnt-commit-fraud\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T09:35:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T09:35:59","slug":"pras-michel-must-repay-6-5m-judge-says-but-didnt-commit-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/pras-michel-must-repay-6-5m-judge-says-but-didnt-commit-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Pras Michel Must Repay $6.5M, Judge Says, But Didn’t Commit Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tA<\/span> federal judge has ended a long-running fraud lawsuit against Fugees rapper Pras Michel over allegations that he sold off part of his music catalog to Harbourview after using those same rights as collateral on a $6.5 million loan.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a decision issued Thursday, Judge Steve C. Jones<\/strong> issued a final ruling that was something of an unpleasant victory for Pras \u2014 ordering him to repay the money he borrowed from an Atlanta finance firm called Open on Sunday, but refusing to go further and hold him liable for more serious accusations.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThough the judge ruled that Michel had clearly breached the loan contract \u2014 something the rapper had never contested \u2014 he also dismissed accusations that Pras had defrauded the company.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is a simple breach of contract case,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cOpen on Sunday loaned Michel $6,500,000. This loan was collateralized with future royalties from Michel\u2019s music copyright catalogue. When the loan came due, Michel did not pay the balance owed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOpen On Sunday had argued that Michel made knowingly false statements, including texts where he told the company, \u201cI\u2019m not selling my assets to any third party,\u201d that he allegedly sent after<\/em> he had already sold them off. As a result of those statements, Open On Sunday claimed it didn\u2019t foreclose on the music rights when it could have.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Judge Jones said the company couldn\u2019t prove it had been legally damaged beyond the money it hadn\u2019t been repaid. The claims about failing to foreclose were not enough, the judge said, \u201cespecially when Open on Sunday has not \u2014 and cannot \u2014 quantify this loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard<\/em> on Friday, Michel\u2019s attorney Robert S. Meloni<\/strong> said he \u201cconsidered the court\u2019s ruling a win for Pras.\u201d He stressed that the judge had sided with Michel on the contested fraud allegations and that Pras already agreed he needed to repay the debt: \u201cHe conceded he owes that money \u2026 before the lawsuit was even filed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAn attorney for Open On Sunday did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAlong with Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, Michel was a founding member of The Fugees, a hip-hop trio who rose to fame in the 1990s with hits like \u201cKilling Me Softly,\u201d \u201cReady or Not,\u201d and \u201cFu-Gee-La.\u201d After splitting up in 1998, the three each had successful solo careers and mostly stayed separate until recent years, when they have attempted multiple reunion tours.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2019, Pras was hit with sweeping federal criminal charges, including accusations that he funneled money from a Malaysian financier to Barack Obama<\/strong>\u2019s 2012 campaign and then later tried to influence an extradition case on behalf of China. In April 2023, he was convicted on 10 counts including conspiracy, witness tampering and failing to register as a foreign agent.<\/p>\n

\n\tMichel is also currently embroiled in litigation against Hill, whom he claims defrauded him over the Fugee\u2019s shortened 2023 tour and was behind the abrupt cancellation of a 2024 tour. Hill has called the case, which remains pending, a \u201cbaseless lawsuit\u201d that\u2019s \u201cfull of false claims and unwarranted attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2022, Michel was hit with the lawsuit from Open on Sunday, an Atlanta-based company that says it provides \u201ccatalog financing solutions,\u201d including purchasing music rights from songwriters and artists in return for upfront payments.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its court filings, the group said it had struck such a deal with Michel in 2021, agreeing to pay the star $5.1 million to buy out the royalty stream from his record deal with Sony Music. But shortly after inking that deal, Open on Sunday allegedly learned that there were \u201cundisclosed tax liens\u201d on those royalties that would prevent them from being paid out.<\/p>\n

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\n\tTo resolve the issue, Open claimed that it converted the asset sale into a short-term loan, which would give Michel $6.5 million but need to quickly be paid back. As collateral for the debt, Michel allegedly offered up a priority interest in the same royalties that he\u2019d previously tried to sell.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Pras never paid that money back \u2014 and he then allegedly sold off that same collateral to Harbourview in a 2022 catalog sale<\/a>. In a juicy twist, Open on Sunday\u2019s lawsuit claimed Michel had pulled off that deal by presenting Harbourview with forged documents that falsely showed the smaller company had released its lien on the royalties.<\/p>\n

\n\t(Harbourview was initially named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but was voluntarily dropped from the case in 2023. A spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThursday\u2019s ruling ended those allegations in anticlimactic fashion. In a brief opinion, Judge Jones said Pras obviously<\/em> owed the money since he had never argued otherwise: \u201cIn his own words, Michel \u2018breached the loan agreement.’\u201d But he dismissed the lawsuit\u2019s four other counts, including common-law fraud and conspiracy to defraud through forgery.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOpen on Sunday must show that actual damages, not simply nominal damages, flowed from the fraud alleged,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cBut Open on Sunday cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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