Pras Michel is accused bringing 'secret, illegal foreign influence to bear' during the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump
of embezzled Malaysian dollars in exchange for running a foreign-influence campaign against the U.S. government, Justice Department attorney Nicole Lockhart told jurors Thursday morning.
“The defendant needed money and was willing to do anything to get it, including being an agent of the Chinese government,” Lockhartduring the government’s opening argument of the federal conspiracy trial. “The defendant wanted money and was willing to break any laws necessary to get paid.” Michel is standing trial with multiple felonies in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging his participation in a conspiracy to make illegal campaign contributions using foreign money, witness tampering, and failing to register as an agent of China. He pled not guilty to the charges, the most serious of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Lockhart told the court that the prosecution will link Michel to Malaysian financier Jho Low, who is suspected of siphoning more than $4.5 billion from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB , and a Chinese government influence campaign targeted at extraditing the wealthy billionaire fugitive Guo Weng.
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