Pras was found guilty of political conspiracy earlier this year for money laundering and illegitimate lobbying tactics, and he is now demanding a retrial.
On Tuesday (October 17), Reuters reported that the Fugees member is hoping to have his case brought back to life because his former attorney, David Kenner, messed up “the single most important portion” of his defense by using generative AI to put together a closing statement.
“Kenner’s closing argument made frivolous arguments, misapprehended the required elements, conflated the schemes and ignored critical weaknesses in the government’s case,” a brief by Pras’ new legal team stated. “The AI program failed Kenner, and Kenner failed [Pras] Michel. The closing argument was deficient, unhelpful and a missed opportunity that prejudiced the defense.”
They also pointed out that Kenner — who was famously the former lawyer for Death Row Records in the ’90s — has a financial stake in a company that partners with the technology he used and then showed off about. In a May press release, he took credit for “the first use of generative AI in a federal trial” regarding the closing statement.
EyeLevel.AI, the tool in question, has denied that Kenner has any stake in their company.
Since being found guilty in April, Pras has insisted that he’s not an FBI informant or guilty of any other crime he is being held to.
“Pras was never an FBI informant. It’s not accurate and, quite frankly, it’s dangerous,” his publicist, Erica Dumas, told AllHipHop. “If he was an informant, he would not be on trial. The government does not prosecute and threaten its informants with more than two decades of jail time.”
