In April 2023 Fugees rapper, Pras Michel, was found guilty on all counts of conspiracy to launder money for fugitive Malaysian billionaire Jho Low [click here if you missed that].
Addressing the conviction, Pras says a spy is not sexy..
From Variety
It was a scene ripped from a John le Carré novel.
According to firsthand accounts and court documents, a man is told to go to the front desk of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Manhattan and say the phrase “banana peel.” The concierge then hands him an envelope with orders to circle the block twice before receiving further instructions. He returns, is shuffled into a secret elevator — one that isn’t even used for celebrities, only visiting dignitaries deemed assassination risks — and brought to the penthouse suite.
After 15 minutes, Sun Lijun enters the room and lights a cigarette. The man recognizes Sun, not merely because he is the third-highest-ranking official in China. In fact, they had met during a trip the man took to Hong Kong in which Chinese Communist Party officials confiscated his passport, blindfolded him and drove him into mainland China. Sun doesn’t greet the man sitting on a plush couch at the Four Seasons. Instead, the CCP bigwig pulls out an email from Attorney General Jeff Sessions regarding three American hostages being held in China. One is a pregnant woman. Sun asks the man what should be done about the woman. He suggests that in an act of good faith, she should be released. Sun makes a call, and after a few minutes, shows the man an itinerary — proof that the woman will be freed and flown back to the United States. A week later, at the tail end of 2018, the feds close in on the man as he walks into Lure, his favorite SoHo haunt.
But here’s the part that le Carré’s editors would have rejected as wildly implausible. The man is Pras Michél, founder of the legendary hip-hop band the Fugees. And his life is about to descend into chaos as he becomes the highest profile target in a labyrinthine criminal corruption case stemming from one of the world’s biggest financial scandals — the $4.5 billion looting of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB.
“I don’t know if subconsciously it was a bit exciting for me too,” Michél recalls in his first interview since being convicted in that case. “I like spy movies, but I never wanted to be a spy. I don’t think that’s sexy. But a part of it felt like that.”
7 comments:
He’s an idiot to get caught up in all of this mess with two governments no less.
THIS IS ALL THE WAY PRAS' FAULT! NO SYMPATHY FOR THIS FOOL!
Now is the time for L Hill to joke on Pras going to prison and turning into man meat in prison. A few weeks back he made jokes on her being tardy.
How did he get such friends in high places, genuinely curious.
^ by being thirsty for clout.
If you enjoy reading fact based espionage thrillers, of which there are only a handful of decent ones, do try reading Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription. It is an enthralling unadulterated fact based autobiographical spy thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
What is interesting is that this book is so different to any other espionage thrillers fact or fiction that I have ever read. It is extraordinarily memorable and unsurprisingly apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why?
Maybe because the book has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”; maybe because Bill Fairclough (the author) deviously dissects unusual topics, for example, by using real situations relating to how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and (surprisingly) vice versa; and/or maybe because he has survived literally dozens of death defying experiences including 20 plus attempted murders.
The action in Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 about a real maverick British accountant who worked in Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London, Nassau, Miami and Port au Prince. Initially in 1974 he unwittingly worked for MI5 and MI6 based in London infiltrating an organised crime gang. Later he worked knowingly for the CIA in the Americas. In subsequent books yet to be published (when employed by Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters and others) he continued to work for several intelligence agencies. Fairclough has been justifiably likened to a posh version of Harry Palmer aka Michael Caine in the films based on Len Deighton’s spy novels.
Beyond Enkription is a must read for espionage cognoscenti. Whatever you do, you must read some of the latest news articles (since August 2021) in TheBurlingtonFiles website before taking the plunge and getting stuck into Beyond Enkription. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit. Intriguingly, the articles were released seven or more years after the book was published. TheBurlingtonFiles website itself is well worth a visit and don’t miss the articles about FaireSansDire. The website is a bit like a virtual espionage museum and refreshingly advert free.
Returning to the intense and electrifying thriller Beyond Enkription, it has had mainly five star reviews so don’t be put off by Chapter 1 if you are squeamish. You can always skip through the squeamish bits and just get the gist of what is going on in the first chapter. Mind you, infiltrating international state sponsored people and body part smuggling mobs isn’t a job for the squeamish! Thereafter don’t skip any of the text or you’ll lose the plots. The book is ever increasingly cerebral albeit pacy and action packed. Indeed, the twists and turns in the interwoven plots kept me guessing beyond the epilogue even on my second reading.
The characters were wholesome, well-developed and beguiling to the extent that you’ll probably end up loving those you hated ab initio, particularly Sara Burlington. The attention to detail added extra layers of authenticity to the narrative and above all else you can’t escape the realism. Unlike reading most spy thrillers, you will soon realise it actually happened but don’t trust a soul.
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