Fugees’ Pras Michel is seeking a new trial in his federal conspiracy case, claiming that his former attorney is responsible for “ineffective representation,” which included using an AI program to write his closing argument.
The motion for a new trial was filed by Michel’s new legal team on Monday, October 16th. Among the allegations put forth by the motion against Michel’s previous lawyer, David Kenner, is a claim that Kenner “used an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) program to draft the closing argument, ignoring the best arguments and conflating the charged schemes, and he then publicly boasted that the AI program ‘turned hours or days of legal work into seconds’” (per Rolling Stone).
Further, the motion alleges that Kenner had “an undisclosed financial stake” in the AI program, and the usage of the program for Michel’s trial was done “so they could issue a press release afterward promoting the program — a clear conflict of interest.”
Additional complaints regarding Kenner’s representation include allegations of “numerous errors… [which] undermine confidence in the verdict,” such as: “outsourced preparations — including drafting briefs, critical cross-examinations, and the opening statement — to inexperienced contract attorneys who work for an e-discovery vendor;” not “familiarizing himself” with relevant statutes regarding money laundering and the Foreign Agents Registration Act; and failing to “object to damaging and inadmissible testimony.”
Kenner has a long history of representing hip-hop artists, and has worked with rappers like Suge Knight, Snoop Dogg, Tory Lanez, and more.
Along with the complaints against Kenner, Michel’s new legal team also took issue with certain evidence that the jury was informed by. The motion filed on Monday claims that two federal judges and the lead case agent in the investigation against Michel exposed the jury to “improper evidence” which reduced them “to a rubber stamp.”
The original trial concluded this past April with Michel being found guilty of 10 federal counts, including campaign finance violations, money laundering, illegal lobbying, witness tampering, and lying to banks. All of the incidents were in connection to his relationship with Low Taek Jho, aka “Jho Low,” a fugitive Malaysian billionaire who allegedly paid Michel millions in exchange for attempting to influence the Obama and Trump administrations.
Michel has maintained his innocence against the prosecution, who put up quite an argument in the high-profile trial, even calling Leonardo DiCaprio to the stand to describe how Low had invested in Hollywood influence. Michel’s indictment caused the cancellation of Fugees’ 2021 reunion tour.