Lauryn Hill is being sued for fraud and breach of contract by Fugees band member Prakasler “Plus” Michel, who claims she was defrauded of a significant share of the profits from the group’s tour last year.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York federal court, Michelle accuses Hill of illegally taking 40 percent of her tour proceeds and splitting the rest. He is seeking unspecified damages and a court order voiding the contract he signed in exchange for Hill’s participation in the 2023 Condensed Tour. The move purportedly waived his intellectual property rights and a portion of the profits from the Fugees’ future artistic endeavors.
The suit was filed as Hill and Wyclef Jean were planning a European tour after their North American show was canceled days before due to poor ticket sales. The article details the controversial breakup between Hill and Michelle, who will not be joining the band.
Hill has announced a solo tour in 2023 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her Grammy Award-winning album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Later that year, she proposed a Fugees reunion as part of a tour.
At the time, Michelle was involved in a massive conspiracy that funneled money from Malaysian financier Lo Tek Jho to a network of straw donors to illegally finance the campaign of Barack Obama in 2012. He was fighting fraud charges from the government for allegedly giving instructions. As a result of a plea deal, he was found guilty last year of his role in stealing about $4.5 billion from a Malaysian state-owned investment fund.
Michelle said she agreed to go on Hill’s tour to help fund efforts to overturn convictions. He received one-third of the tour’s expected profits upfront, ceded creative control of the tour to Hill, and agreed to license the group’s trademarks for live shows in later years, among other things he would normally refuse. accepted the “onerous conditions” that would be imposed. regardless of whether he was included, according to the complaint.
Under the agreement, the group was to split the $750,000 payment equally per show. But Michelle claims she later learned that Hill’s company, MLH, which manages the tour, was actually paid about $1.26 million. They stated that “the accounting for the 2023 Fugees Tour is set up so that Hill and MLH will receive a ‘top-up’ of the tour deposit and 40 percent of the net profits before Michelle’s one-third share is calculated. He did not disclose to Michelle what was happening.
As a result of the alleged conspiracy, Michelle claims she was tricked into signing the contract had she known the truth. These agreements detailed the control of future artistic endeavors, including recording services, ownership of recording projects and live performances.
Additionally, the lawsuit accuses Hill of causing the failure of the band’s 2024 North American tour, which was canceled due to poor ticket sales. Hill signed a deal with Live Nation earlier this year for an 18-date Fugees tour scheduled to begin in August. But Live Nation only agreed to promote the tour if Jean and Michelle agreed to perform with Hill as the Fugees, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that Hill’s managers informed Michelle that she still owed him nearly $1 million after failing to collect her advance payment for a 2023 tour, resulting in the discovery of the unequal split. I am doing it. Although the two sides later reached an agreement and Michelle was able to obtain an advance payment for her lawyer, Live Nation allegedly failed to properly promote the tour in time to sell enough tickets. The lawsuit alleges that Hill unilaterally refused to pay the $5. A million dollar offer to the group to perform at Coachella.
Michelle’s lawyer, Robert Meloni, said in a statement that Hill “exploited his client’s fragile legal situation” and manipulated him into signing an unfair contract for the Fugees’ 2023 reunion tour. He said Hill “misrepresented material financial information and concealed his intention to receive an excessive 60% of the tour proceeds, giving Michelle only 20% of the group’s share instead of the group’s customary one-third split. %,” he emphasized.