Fugees rapper convicted in Chinese influence campaign seeks new trial, says ex-lawyer used AI

Fugees rapper Pras Michel, who was convicted in April on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China, among other things, is seeking a new trial by claiming that his defense team allegedly used artificial intelligence for closing arguments before the jury.

In the 113-page motion filed Monday in a D.C. federal court, Michel's new lawyers argued that his former attorney David Kenner "used an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) program to draft the closing argument, ignoring the best arguments and conflating the charged schemes, and then publicly boasted that the AI program 'turned hours or days of legal work into seconds.'" 

The new attorneys also said: "Kerner and his co-counsel appear to have an undisclosed financial stake in the AI program, and they experimented with it during Michel's trial so they could issue a press release afterward promoting the program – a clear conflict of interest."

Michel funneled millions of dollars from Malaysian Chinese businessman Jho Low into then-President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, prosecutors said.

He also lobbied the Trump administration in 2017 to drop an embezzlement investigation of Low and others and he tried to get a Chinese national sent back to China, officials said.

Michel has been free on bond since being charged in 2019, and he has remained free pending sentencing.

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