BREAKING NEWS – Washington, D.C. – Pras Michel of the Fugees is seeking a new trial by arguing his former lawyer used artificial intelligence to generate his closing argument before the hip-hop artist was found guilty of helping a foreign national launder millions of dollars in illegitimate contributions to former President Barack Obama’s campaign.
Michel was convicted in April after being accused of taking part in an extensive conspiracy to use about $88 million in foreign funds to engage in illegal back-channel lobbying and make unlawful campaign contributions at the direction of the People’s Republic of China.
The motion argues Michel’s former defense attorney David Kenner “used an experimental AI program to write his closing argument, which made frivolous arguments, conflated the schemes and failed to highlight key weaknesses in the Government’s case.” Michel also stated that he knew the closing argument was flawed and substandard, after he had it analyzed, and that was the conclusion of his newly acquired AI application.