Fugees trial: Pras Michél sues Lauryn Hill in Federal Court

Pras Michél is suing his former bandmate Lauryn Hill in federal court for allegedly scuttling the Fugees’ U.S. comeback tour, which was abruptly canceled last month. In turn, Hill accused him of taking advantage of his goodwill and accused him of being the one in breach of contract.

Michél, 51, a founding member of the Grammy-winning hip-hop group, accused the group’s singer and her touring company, MLH Touring, of fraud and breach of contract, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Southern District from New York. The rapper’s allegations include breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and refusal to allow an audit of the Fugees’ tour – a tour the group truncated in the United States due to “unforeseen circumstances.” (Hill later said the European leg would resume “as planned.”)

He accused Hill of taking advantage of his April 2023 criminal conviction to impose an unfair contract on him. Michél was convicted of 10 counts related to multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies; he faces up to 20 years in prison but is free before his sentence.

“Betrayals are always sinister, but the closer the traitor, the greater the evil,” says the introduction to Michél’s trial, obtained Wednesday by The Times. “The Lord must have been absent the day he associated Lauryn Hill with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, the plaintiff in this action, because the betrayal within the fake Fugees family has reached mythical proportions. This is their tale of woe.

Hill responded to the filing online, calling Michél’s lawsuit “baseless” and “full of false allegations and unwarranted attacks.” In a statement to the Times, she also said her complaint omitted, among other things, that he allegedly received an “advanced overpayment for the last tour” and that he had failed to repay “significant loans I made as a sign of goodwill.

The celebration continues: Miseducation’s anniversary tour was supposed to feature Hill and his Fugees bandmates Michél and Wyclef Jean performing music from the trio’s multiplatinum 1996 album, “The Score,” and the solo debut from Hill’s 1998 Grammy Award-winning “The Miseducation.” by Lauryn Hill.

The 2024 tour was scheduled to begin last month in Tampa, Fla., and continue through mid-September, with a scheduled Sept. 17 stop for the Hollywood Bowl, where Hill hosted a 20th anniversary tour based on “Miseducation ” in 2018. However, the band abruptly canceled the tour three days before the tour was due to begin, with Hill suggesting that a sensationalist story about it had led to low ticket sales. In his lawsuit, Michél accused Hill of “gross mismanagement” and “dismal” ticket sales.

The band, disbanded for 15 years, initially announced a 2021 reunion tour and played just one date before canceling the tour due to what the band said were pandemic-related difficulties. Hill and the Fugees returned to the road in late 2023, but also cut this release short, with Hill citing “serious vocal strain.”

In his lawsuit, Michél accuses Hill and MLH of grossly mismanaging the tour, including its organization, marketing, budgeting and payment of tour expenses, and blames him for the tour’s “dismal” ticket sales . He also alleged that she secretly siphoned off money from tour advances paid to MLH as part of a 2023 touring deal.

The complaint says she did so by “recruiting the unwitting assistance” of her estranged husband, Jean, to organize a Fugees tour for the second half of 2023 using an independent live music concert promoter. He claimed she secretly took 40% of the tour’s guarantees and profits for herself, before taking into account Michél’s one-third share.

“Hill’s ploy to appear as Michel’s so-called savior was actually a devious attempt to make a big profit by generating millions of dollars from a Fugees tour, all of which was donated to MLH,” it says. Michél’s complaint. “Even though she hypocritically billed the tour as a Lauryn Hill Miseducation tour, she knew that the kind of success she dreamed of would only be possible if it was also billed as a Fugees tour.”

Michél alleged that Hill “stepped in to supposedly ‘save the day’ for Michel” after his legal woes. He said that due to his severe financial difficulties, he had no choice but to accept “onerous conditions that he would normally have rejected in the years before his criminal conviction”.

Those terms included ceding control of the Fugees tour to Hill and MLH and agreeing to license the “Fugees” brand to MLH for live shows “for years to come – with or without Michel,” the statement said. complaint. He also accused him of having hidden “rigged” accounting books from him and of having defrauded him financially.

The musician also took further jabs at Hill, saying “it would be an understatement to say her early success went to her head”, accusing her of “narcissistic tendencies” when she attempted to trademark for “The Fugees”. for herself in 2021 and alleging that the first half of her 2023 solo tour relegated her to performing in small venues and “proved to be a commercial and creative failure.”

“Unsurprisingly, due to blatant mismanagement by Hill and MLH, who took far too long to close the deal with (concert promoter) Live Nation, ticket sales for the 2024 U.S. tour have been lamentable,” the lawsuit states. “There was little to no marketing for the tour, and not enough time between the tour announcement and the first concert date to achieve sufficient pre-sales.”

He also alleged that she ruined the tour by arriving hours late and said the real attraction of the tour was the band reuniting, not her. But, he said, Hill “nevertheless insisted on relegating ‘Fugees’ billing to equal or secondary status after his name.”

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and seeks a declaratory judgment to void the 2023 tour contracts and order an accounting of its finances. Michél is also seeking actual and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

Hill, 49, posted a statement on Instagram on Tuesday in response to the lawsuit, alleging that Michél was “under duress due to his legal battles and that this may be affecting his judgment, state of mind and character.” .

The “Ex-Factor” singer said the “Miseducation” 25th anniversary tour is “being planned, whether the Fugees are involved or not.” She said she expanded the tour to include her former bandmates because she “discovered that Pras was in trouble and would need money to help with his legal defense.”

Michél, she claims, received $3 million before the tour to cover her legal fees. She and Jean reportedly postponed all their advances “to make sure he had what he needed and could leave.”

She said she covered most of the tour’s expenses, as the majority of the tour advance went to Michél, and a repayment plan was set up for him to repay the advance. But, she said, Michél “has not repaid the money that was advanced to him and is currently in violation of this agreement.”

She alleged that she absorbed most of the expenses herself, produced the show and set up the entire set, saying “Pras just had to show up and perform.”

“I’m not in the business of kicking anyone, especially when they’re down, that’s why I haven’t responded until now. It’s absolutely disheartening to see Pras in this position, my bandmate and someone I considered a friend,” she said.

“I was not in Pras’ life when he decided to make the unfortunate decision that led (sic) to his current legal troubles. I did not advise him to make this decision and I am therefore in no way responsible for his decision and its consequences, even if I took it upon myself to help him. Despite his attacks, I remain compassionate and hope that things will work out for him.

Times pop music critic Mikael Wood contributed to this report.