Fugees rapper says Jho Low paid RM88mil for Obama photo

NEW YORK: Grammy-winning rapper Pras Michel (pic) told jurors Tuesday at his illegal-lobbying trial that the party-boy Malaysian tycoon Jho Low - once a friend and now a fugitive - paid him US$20mil (RM88.6mil) to get a photo with President Barack Obama in 2012.

Michel told a federal jury in Washington that Low hired him to be a "celebrity surrogate” to get the photo. The rapper is accused of using straw donors to funnel illegal donations from Low into Obama’s campaign. Prosecutors say he later illegally lobbied President Donald Trump’s administration to drop US probes of Low’s alleged looting of billions of dollars from the Malaysian development fund 1MDB.