Lauryn Hill Sued for Fraud by Fugees’ Pras Michel
Photo Credit: Lauryn Hill by Peter Tea / CC by 2.0
Pras Michel sues fellow Fugees member Lauryn Hill for fraud and breach of contract over their canceled 2023 tour.
Lauryn Hill is being sued in federal court by her former Fugees bandmate Pras Michel for alleged breach of contract and fraud over their 2023 tour that was cut short.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday (October 1) in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Hill “grossly mismanaged” the planning, marketing, and budgeting of their failed 2023 tour, “actually a veiled and devious attempt to make a big score for herself.”
The list of claims includes fraud, fraud in the inducement, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, accounting, and refusal to permit an audit of the Fugees’ tour. In a statement to Variety, Hill called the lawsuit “baseless” and “full of false claims and unwarranted attacks.”
Pras’ lawsuit claims the 2023 Fugees tour should have been “a huge commercial success,” as most of the shows for the arena tour were “sold out in advance.” But because Hill controlled the budget tour, Michel says he came away empty-handed. “[The tour budget] was so bloated with unnecessary, and most likely fictitious, expenses, that it seemed designed to lose money.”
The tour was cut abruptly short when Hill canceled the second half in November, citing vocal strain. Michel asserts Hill has “narcissistic tendencies,” citing an incident in which she turned down a $5 million offer for the Fugees to perform at Coachella when she allegedly felt snubbed that the festival put No Doubt’s reunion at the top of the bill.
Pras claims she never told him about the offer, or that she had rejected it; he only learned about it after the fact, when Hill, “in an astonishing display of hubris,” asked Pras to perform some Fugees songs “for free” as the opening act for her son, YG Marley, who was also performing at Coachella.
According to the lawsuit, Hill exploited Michel’s financial situation, as he needed money for mounting legal fees in the middle of his four-year legal battle with the US Department of Justice as a co-defendant of Jho Low. Low allegedly stole $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, IMDB, in what is now one of the world’s biggest financial scandals. Low remains on the run, believed to be hiding in China, while Michel was convicted in April last year for his role in the scandal, though he was not directly involved in the theft.
“Hill was taking 40% of the tour guarantees and tour net profits ‘off the top’ for herself, leaving the remaining 60% to be split equally between Hill, Pras, and Wyclef [Jean],” the lawsuit states, further alleging that Hill entered into a new agreement with Live Nation for a slew of Fugees shows this year, which she never disclosed to Michel. Ticket sales fell short of expectations, which Michel blames on Hill for having “taken far too long to close the deal,” and there was “little or no marketing for the tour.”
Live Nation pulled the US tour in August, which Hill blamed on the media. “Last year, I faced an injury that necessitated the rescheduling of some of my shows,” she said in a statement at the time. “Regrettably, some media outlets’ penchant for sensationalism and clickbait headlines have seemingly created a narrative that has affected ticket sales for the North American portion of the tour.”
The suit also asserts that Hill has “tarnished the Fugees brand” with her “chronic tardiness,” which has drawn the ire of fans. Hill reportedly arrived on stage over four hours late for a show this week in Nairobi, Kenya.
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