From left, Pras, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef of the Fugees performing in Inglewood, Calif., last year. The group’s troubled reunion tour was canceled in August.
Credit...Willy Sanjuan/Invision, via Associated Press

Pras Sues Lauryn Hill Over Canceled Fugees Tour, Alleging Fraud

Ms. Hill was accused of deceiving the other group members about tour finances. She called the lawsuit “baseless” and “full of false claims.”

by · NY Times

After three years of stops and starts, a troubled reunion tour by the hip-hop trio the Fugees — Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras — was finally canceled in August, leaving fans wondering what had happened behind the scenes. One version of that story emerged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by Pras against Ms. Hill and her company, MLH Touring.

In the lawsuit, Pras — whose real name is Prakazrel Michel — laid out a withering portrait of a group in private conflict. He accused Ms. Hill of deceiving the other Fugees about the tour’s finances, trying to “usurp control” by taking over the group’s business and trademark, and unilaterally rejecting a $5 million offer for the Fugees to perform at this year’s Coachella festival.

The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, includes claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and refusing to permit an audit. It seeks unspecified damages.

In a statement, Ms. Hill responded: “This baseless lawsuit by Pras is full of false claims and unwarranted attacks. It notably omits that he was advanced overpayment for the last tour and has failed to repay substantial loans extended by myself as an act of good will.”

The Fugees, from New Jersey, became progressive standard-bearers for hip-hop in the 1990s with reggae-tinged hits like “Fu-Gee-La” and “Killing Me Softly,” and Ms. Hill broke out with her 1998 solo album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” which won the Grammy Award for album of the year.

But the group’s history has long been tumultuous, and fans have been waiting decades for a proper tour. According to Mr. Michel’s suit, the latest troubles began as soon as their first batch of reunion dates was announced in 2021.

After a delay, that tour was canceled in early 2022, with the group saying that Covid-19 had “made touring conditions difficult.” But according to Mr. Michel’s court papers, the real reason was that Ms. Hill had tried to take control of the group’s finances, and had filed for ownership of the Fugees’ trademark without informing Mr. Michel.

Mr. Michel “refused to accede to her power play,” the suit says, including her demand that advance payments from the tour’s promoter should go directly to Ms. Hill. “As a result, the 2021 tour never happened.”

Mr. Jean is not a party to the suit. A representative for him did not immediately respond to a request for comment about it.

Mr. Michel also accuses Ms. Hill of taking advantage of his weakened financial position while he was fighting his own court battle. In 2019, he was indicted on federal charges of being part of a conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws by funneling millions of dollars in foreign money into the 2012 presidential election; he was convicted last year, and in August a judge rejected Mr. Michel’s push for a new trial.

The group went out on a North American tour in 2023. Mr. Michel’s suit contends that Ms. Hill needed the involvement of all three of the Fugees members to book large venues, but that he was “forced to accept onerous terms” because of his legal troubles; that included giving control of the tour to Ms. Hill and her company. The tour was cut short after about a dozen dates, with Ms. Hill saying she was suffering from “serious vocal strain.”

In a detailed response, Ms. Hill said that her tour was expanded to help aid Mr. Michel in his legal defense. She said she absorbed most of the expenses herself and produced the show. She also said he has not paid back a $3 million advance.

“Wyclef and myself deferred our full advances to make sure he had what he needed and was able to go,” she said. “An agreement was put in place to secure the repayment of the money he was advanced. Pras has not paid back the money he was advanced, and is currently in breach of this agreement.”

She added, “I was not in Pras’s life when he decided to make the unfortunate decision that led to his current legal troubles.”

Erica Dumas, a spokeswoman for Mr. Michel’s legal team, called Ms. Hill’s statement about the unpaid advance “categorically false.”

In 2024, during discussions for a new tour, Mr. Michel’s suit says, he learned that Ms. Hill had not reported to the others the full advance payment she received from their promoters in 2023, and that she had been taking 40 percent of the profits “off the top.” According to the suit, Ms. Hill was splitting the remaining 60 percent between the three members — effectively giving her 60 percent of all earnings, with Mr. Michel and Mr. Jean getting only 20 percent apiece. That, the suit says, violated the group’s longstanding practice, codified in its 2023 deal, that all profits should be shared equally.

In June, a new Fugees tour was announced, even though the members of the group had never signed a new agreement about their terms for the tour, the suit says. In August, days before the tour was set to start, the dates were canceled.

According to Mr. Michel’s suit, poor ticket sales were the reason. In a post on social media, Ms. Hill seemed to confirm that, though she blamed “some media outlets’ penchant for sensationalism” over the 2023 cancellations, which she said “seemingly created a narrative that has affected ticket sales for the North American portion of the tour.”

This fall, Ms. Hill will be touring in Europe, with shows billed as “Ms. Lauryn Hill & the Fugees.”

In a statement, Robert S. Meloni, a lawyer for Mr. Michel, said he would not be participating in those shows.

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