The Fugees member Pras Michél has filed a lawsuit against his bandmate Lauryn Hill, alleging fraud and breach of contract related to their 2023 tour and cancelled concerts planned for 2024.
Michél’s lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Hill exploited the 2023 tour for personal gain by mismanaging its setup, marketing, and budgeting, Variety reported Tuesday (October 1), citing the complaint.
The Fugees’ founding member reportedly alleged that the tour “was actually a veiled and devious attempt to make a big score for [Hill].”
Hill is also accused of siphoning off money from the tour guarantees and controlling the tour budget “that was so bloated with unnecessary and, most likely fictitious, expenses, that it seemed designed to lose money.”
Michél’s complaint accused Hill of taking 40% of tour guarantees and net profits “off the top,” leaving the remaining 60% to be split equally between herself, Michél, and Wyclef Jean.
The lawsuit claims that the 2023 tour, which was cut short when Hill cancelled the second half citing “serious vocal strain,” should have been “a huge commercial success” as most shows were sold out in advance.
Michél claimed that he was left owing nearly $1 million in unrecouped expenses from the 2023 tour. The lawsuit states that Michél and his representatives only recently learned of the financial arrangement and were denied when they demanded a financial audit.
“[Lauryn Hill controlled the tour budget] that was so bloated with unnecessary and, most likely fictitious, expenses, that it seemed designed to lose money.”
Pras Michél, The Fugees
Variety reports that the lawsuit also addresses a planned 2024 Fugees tour. It alleges that Hill entered into an agreement with Live Nation for an 18-show US tour scheduled to start in August 2024 without disclosing the deal to Michél.
The tour was ultimately cancelled by Live Nation in August 2023 due to poor ticket sales, which Michél blamed on Hill because she “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.”
Michél further accused Hill — who was described in the suit as a wolf in sheep’s clothing with “narcissistic tendencies” — of turning down a $5 million offer for the Fugees to perform at Coachella because she felt snubbed by the festival for putting No Doubt at the top of the bill.
“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 complaint cited by Variety read.
Moreover, Michél’s suit accused Hill of “tarnishing the Fugees brand” due to “her habit of showing up late for shows, sometimes by as many as two to three hours,” and of exploiting his need for money to cover legal fees related to his involvement in the 1MDB financial scandal.
In response to the accusations, Hill issued a detailed statement to the press, describing the lawsuit as “baseless” and “full of false claims and unwarranted attacks.”
“Some clarity and facts need to be presented. I’ve been silent and pushing through because I understood that Pras was under duress because of his legal battles and that this was perhaps affecting his judgment, state of mind and character,” the statement read.
Hill claimed that Michél was given a $3 million advance for the tour, which he said he needed to pay his legal fees.
“Wyclef and Myself deferred our full advances to make sure he had what he needed and was able to go,” Hill said, adding that she covered most of the tour expenses, as the majority of the tour advance had gone to Michél.
An agreement was allegedly put in place to secure the repayment of the money Michél was advanced, which he has not yet repaid.
Hill also claimed that she absorbed most of the expenses herself, produced the show, and put together the entire set, while Michél “basically just had to show up and perform.”
“’I’ve been silent and pushing through because I understood that Pras [Michél] was under duress because of his legal battles and that this was perhaps affecting his judgment, state of mind and character.”
Lauryn Hill, The Fugees
She mentioned that as of the last tour, Michél had thanked her for “saving his life.” Hill further expressed compassion for Michél’s current legal troubles but insisted that she “did not advise that he make that decision and therefore am in no way responsible for his decision and its consequences though I have taken it upon myself to help.”
“Despite his attacks, I am still compassionate and hope things work out for him,” Hill said.
The Fugees, formed in the late 1980s in New Jersey, are considered as one of the most influential hip-hop acts of the 1990s. The group, which includes Wyclef Jean alongside Michél and Hill, has sold more than 22 million records globally. Their 1996 album The Score was certified seven times platinum by the RIAA.
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