Rapper Pras Michél is suing his bandmate and co-founder Lauryn Hill in a dispute over their canceled reunion tour, accusing her of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, refusal to permit audit, unjust enrichment, and more, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York and obtained by Entertainment Weekly.
The conflict stems from the ill-fated Fugees reunion tour that was postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic and then abruptly canceled days before the first show was supposed to take place in August. The lawsuit claims that Hill "betrayed" a previous agreement to split all Fugees profits and endeavors in three equal parts between herself, Michél, and Wyclef Jean, alleging that she engaged in "a scheme of fraud, artifice and deception" to secure the majority of the profits from the tour.
"Betrayals are always sinister, but the closer the betrayer, the greater the evil," Michél's complaint says. "Some say that God gives you friends to make up for your family. The Lord must have been off the day he paired Lauryn Hill with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, the plaintiff in this action, because the betrayal among the forged Fugees family has risen to Mythic proportions."
Hill disputed Michél's claims in a statement provided to EW. "Some clarity and facts need to be presented," she said. "I've been silent and pushing through because I understood that Pras was under duress because of his legal battles and that this was perhaps affecting his judgment, state of mind and character." She added, "This baseless lawsuit by Pras is full of false claims and unwarranted attacks."
(EW has also reached out to Jean, who is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, for comment.)
Hill went on to claim that Michél has "failed to repay substantial loans" she gave him, that she was planning her own 25th-anniversary tour for her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and that she only included the Fugees on the scrapped tour because she "found out that Pras was in trouble and would need money to aid his legal defense."
Michél's lawsuit does indeed state that he agreed to a Fugees reunion tour in order to pay his legal fees in a criminal case, in which he was accused of laundering money from fugitive Malaysian businessman Jho Low, trying to impede an investigation into Low's scheme, and attempting to persuade the United States to extradite a Chinese dissident.
Michél was ultimately found guilty of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government last year. His suit against Hill claims that he "was in desperate need of money to retain competent white collar crime lawyers to seek reversal of the unjust verdict" and that "Hill saw an opportunity and swooped in to purportedly 'save the day'" for her former bandmate.
In her statement to EW, Hill asserted that she and Jean deferred their advances for the tour so that Michél could secure a $3 million advance to pay his legal fees in the criminal case. "It is absolutely disheartening to see Pras in this position, my band mate and someone I considered a friend," she said. "I was not in Pras' life when he decided to make the unfortunate decision that lead to his current legal troubles. I did not advise that he make that decision and therefore am in no way responsible for his decision and its consequences though I have taken it upon myself to help. Despite his attacks, I am still compassionate and hope things work out for him."
In a response to Hill's statement, Michél's attorney Robert S. Meloni disputed her account and said, "The Courtroom is a place where the facts and truth matter. I welcome the opportunity to have those facts aired publicly."
Per the complaint, Michél is seeking "his rightful share of all benefits, profits, advances, and other payments," plus actual damages, punitive damages, interest, court costs and attorneys' fees.
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