[vintagedave]

I'm a little confused about what he actually did. The article mostly speaks about making connections and introducing people to each other. But:

> The concierge then hands him an envelope with orders to circle the block twice before receiving further instructions.

What was in that envelope?

[adamgordonbell]

I think that the mention of the billions from Malaysia relates to the story covered in the "Billion Dollar Whale". I really recommend that book.

Many celebrities ended up involved, and it's a story that wouldn't be believed if it were fiction.

    At the center of the tale is Jho Low, the wild-spending financier who burst onto the scene in 2013 by backing “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Scorsese and DiCaprio’s $100 million look at financial fraud and bacchanalian excess. As Low’s influence in Hollywood grew, scores of celebrities partied on his private jet, drank his Cristal and accepted his lavish gifts (DiCaprio landed a $3.2 million Picasso and a $9 million Basquiat), at least until his elaborate embezzlement scheme unraveled and he became a fugitive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad_s...

https://www.amazon.ca/Billion-Dollar-Whale-Fooled-Hollywood/...

[tw04]

He took money from a foreigner to donate to political campaigns and tried to influence politicians at the behest of China, without registering as a foreign agent.

[MrMcCall]

He also refused to take a plea agreement that would've spared him most of this (IIUC). They don't like it when a person doesn't "play ball". And it certainly doesn't help that he's Black.

[perihelions]

It also doesn't help that he was a Chinese spy. Or that he assisted the CPC trying to repatriate a Chinese defector to China to be executed.

[maxglute]

>Defector

A chinese fraudster who scammed PRC banks that "defected" by claiming to be a dissident, that PRC said for years was a fraudster, who would go on to defraud Americans out of a BILLION dollars, because US state department thought he was some anti CCP dissident with deep insight into the CCP, instead of you know... a fraudster. Though to be fair, both could to be true. I hope US got a billion dollars worth outdated info from him.

[n4r9]

It's worded quite badly, but I believe the envelope contained the written instructions to circle the block etc...

[perihelions]

"Rapper, Businessman Found Guilty in Back-Channel Lobbying Campaign to Drop 1MDB Investigation and Remove Chinese National from United States, and Conspiring to Make and Conceal Foreign Contributions During 2012 U.S. Presidential Election"

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-entertainer-convicted-enga...

[JKCalhoun]

> I'm a little confused about what he actually did.

Launder money? That he deflects when the topic of money comes up is telling enough.

[roughly]

It’s noted a little obliquely in the article that he got paid an ungodly amount of money for his help - at one point, it’s mentioned he got paid $20m to set up a photo op with Obama; elsewhere they suggest $100m total received for his help. I think he deflects on money because it takes a whole lot of sympathy out of his sort of “gee shucks” presentation of all this.

[bzmrgonz]

Question: How does a Minimalist spend 100M USD??

[sangnoir]

A lot of people got lots of money or high-value gifts. Also curiously his advisor (handler?) worked for the US government - was he 100% moonlighting, or performing government-sanctioned activities? They are throwing the book at Pras because he refused to play ball with the plea bargain.

[roughly]

Oh absolutely - I don’t excuse people the consequences of their actions because they were dumb, but this very much reads like Pras was the one guy without a good lawyer in the room.