Pras Michel sued fellow Fugees member Lauryn Hill for fraud and breach of contract, among other claims, in New York on Tuesday (October 1). According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, Michel claimed Hill exploited him when she arranged a Fugees reunion tour in 2023.
“Michel was forced to accept onerous terms he would have normally rejected in the years before his criminal conviction (as he did in 2021), including ceding control of the Fugees tour to Hill and MLH [Touring], and agreeing to license the ‘Fugees’ trademark to MLH for live shows for years to come with or without Michel,” his attorneys contended.
The lawsuit accused Hill of taking advantage of Michel because she knew he was desperate for money. Michel needed to “pay expensive white collar crime lawyers to file post-trial motions” following his conviction in a foreign influence campaign case.
“Hill’s ploy to be appear to be Michel’s supposed savior was actually a devious attempt to make a big score for herself by generating millions of dollars from a Fugees tour, all of which flowed to MLH,” his lawyers argued. “Even though she disingenuously billed the tour as a Lauryn Hill Miseducation tour, she knew that the kind of success she craved would only be possible if it were also billed as a Fugees tour.”
They continued, “To succeed with her scheme, Hill required that she and MLH have complete control over the business aspects of the tour, which allowed her to have a total lack of transparency over the tour’s management, including the handling of money. In the process, it did not matter to Hill if she took full advantage of Michel’s vulnerability – her friend and creative partner of over 30 years. In fact, she counted on exploiting that vulnerability to carry out her scheme.”
Hill abruptly canceled the 2023 tour. Michel blamed Hill for hampering ticket sales for their 2024 tour, which led to its cancellation. He also said Hill refused a $5 million offer to perform with the Fugees at Coachella due to her “arrogance.”
“She unilaterally rejected a $5 Million offer for the Fugees to perform at the Coachella festival,” Michel’s lawyers wrote. “Upon information and belief, the reason was her ego was bruised since the group No Doubt would be receiving top billing over the Fugees. Hill never told Michel about the offer or that she had rejected it. Michel only learned about it when it was too late, after Hill, in an astonishing display of hubris, asked Michel if he would agree to perform a few Fugees songs for free as the opening act for her son, ‘YG’ Marley, who was slated to perform at the same Coachella festival.”
Michel awaits sentencing for conspiracy, concealment of material facts, making false entries in records, witness tampering and serving as an unregistered agent of a foreign power. He faces up to 20 years in prison.