Pras Michél has filed a lawsuit against Fugees bandmember Lauryn Hill over multiple allegations including fraud and breach of contract. Per Variety, Michél, 51, filed the federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed over the group’s 2023 tour and the cancellation of their concerts in 2024. Michél in the lawsuit claims that Hill, 49, failed to properly handle their setup, marketing and budgeting for their 2023 tour.
The complaint alleges that Hill deviously attempted to “make a big score for herself” through the tour. She is also accused of taking money generated from the tour guarantees without disclosing it. Besides that, the complaint additionally accuses Hill of breach of fiduciary duty and refusal to allow an audit of the Fugees’ tour.
The suit states that the band’s 2023 tour was initially poised to be “a huge commercial success, since most of shows for the entire arena size tour were sold out in advance.” But Michél came up short because Hill was in charge of the tour budget “that was so bloated with unnecessary and, most likely fictitious, expenses, that it seemed designed to lose money.”
The tour was ultimately canceled by Hill in November 2023 after she said she had suffered a “serious vocal strain.” But Hill in the lawsuit is accused of having “narcissistic tendencies.” The suit also cites an incident where she allegedly refused a proposal for the Fugees to perform at the 2024 Coachella for $5 million. The suit claims Hill declined that offer because she took issue with the No Doubt group receiving top billing over The Fugees, Variety reported.
“Hill’s arrogance was again demonstrated when she unilaterally rejected a $5 Million offer [to play Coachella]. The reason was that her ego was bruised since the group No Doubt would be receiving top billing over The Fugees,” the suit states.
“Hill never told Pras about the offer or that she had was rejected it. Pras only learned about it when it was too late, after Hill, in an astonishing display of hubris, asked Pras if he would agree to perform a few Fugees songs for free as the opening act for her son, ‘YG’ Marley, who was slated to perform at the same Coachella festival.”
The suit also claims that Hill’s ex-husband spoke to Michél about organizing a Fugees reunion after the plaintiff had an unsuccessful solo tour. Hill is said to have spoken with her ex-husband about the reunion. The suit claims that Hill “realized that the only chance for her to perform at arena size venues and feed her insatiable ego would be to reunite with Michél and [Wyclef] Jean and bill the 25th anniversary tour as a ‘Fugees” tour.’”
Hill in the suit is accused of taking advantage of Michél’s financial situation as the 51-year-old was facing legal issues. In 2023, Michél was convicted of illegal lobbying in the United States after funding Barack Obama’s 2012 election campaign with money received from a Malaysian financier, The Guardian reported.
The lawsuit states that the cancellation of the 2023 tour heavily affected Michél’s finances as he was unable to pay his legal bills, per Variety. He was left with a $1 million debt in unrecovered expenses because 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,” per the suit.
Michél in the suit also claims that Hill did not inform him about striking a deal with Live Nation for The Fugees to hold shows in the United States from August 2024. The plaintiff also claims that ticket sales for that tour were very low because Hill “had taken far too long to close the deal with Live Nation [and] there was little or no marketing for the tour, and not enough time between the announcement and the first concert date to do sufficient advance sales to justify the tour.”
Following the cancellation of the tour, Hill took to social media to issue a lengthy statement, explaining that the tour was canceled because of low ticket sales. She also claimed the low ticket sales were because of “clickbait headlines” that stemmed from her decision to cancel some of her shows last year.
“Last year, I faced an injury that necessitated the rescheduling of some of my shows,” she wrote on Instagram. “Regrettably, some media outlet’s 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 trust and faith I have in my intentions and my commitment to my art seem to have been overshadowed by this unfortunate portrayal.”
But Michél in the lawsuit alleges that Hill’s “habit of showing up late for shows, sometimes by as many as two to three hours” has “tarnished the Fugees brand.”
Some of Hill’s fans in recent times have taken issue with her work ethic, mainly citing her multiple concert cancellations and being very late to her shows. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill rapper is said to have performed late at a show in Nairobi, Kenya, this week.
Responding to the suit in a statement, Hill said the allegations tabled against her were “baseless” and “full of false claims and unwarranted attacks.”
“It is particularly disappointing that the suit fails to reveal that Pras was grossly over advanced for the last tour to help him pay his mounting legal bills,” Hill’s attorney, Howard King, also said. “His failure to show appreciation for the financial help Ms. Hill has afforded him in his time of need is disappointing. This action will be aggressively defended and defeated.”
