Who is Jho Low and where is he now? All we know about Pras Michel co-conspirator as rapper sentenced to 14 years over illegal Obama donations

Rapper Prakazrel Michel, who is better known as Pras, has been handed a 14-year-long sentence in the case, which also involved Jho Low. Michel was convicted on charges of illegally contributing large sums of money to the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama.

Jho Low is a Malaysian billionaire whose real name is Low Taek Jho. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Low and co-conspirator channeled foreign funds to the Obama campaign between the months of June and November in 2012, noted The Star. The funds, which were transferred under the guise of legal contributions from a foreign account to Pras, totaled nearly $21.6 million, according to the news outlet.

Low, who has been a fugitive since 2016, has been living in a wealthy residential area named Green Hills in Shanghai, as of July 2025, according to The Straits Times. Low’s location was unearthed by investigative journalists Bradley Hope and Tom Wright.

According to the news outlet, Hope and Wright also claim that Low has been using a false Australian passport, with the name Constantinos Achilles Veis.

Jho Low is the world’s master fraudster but he remains free, living in this Shanghai mansion and operating under a false Aussie passport. We reveal how he remains useful to the Chinese government: https://t.co/7qmS0gL8wF pic.twitter.com/XI2QZoAciV

— Tom Wright (@TomWrightAsia) July 19, 2025

Journalists who claim to have discovered Jho Low’s current location were the ones who exposed the Malaysian businessman’s corruption scandal in 2015

Jho Low’s name initially surfaced in connection with a corruption scandal involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Former Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, was the chairman of the board of the fund, which was facing investigations after being under crippling multi-billion dollar debt, as per The Wall Street Journal.

In March 2015, Malaysian authorities were informed of deposits totaling $529 million from 2011 to 2013 into Low’s Singapore bank account, according to The Wall Street Journal. The funds were under investigation by Malaysia’s central bank, which collaborated with the Singapore police to gather information about the money.

In July 2025, Bradley Hope and Tom Wright conducted an online investigation into Low's whereabouts, and they presented their findings in a YouTube Live video hosted by Brazen.

Wright outlined the allegations against Low at the time. He said,

“Najib…you know, he was protecting Jho Low at that time, asking for his naming to be taken out of auditor reports.”

1/24 The 1MDB scandal cost Malaysia an estimated ~$18 BILLION. 🤯

Yes, $18,000,000,000 – far above the ~$4.5B initially identified as stolen.

New internal figures reveal how fugitive playboy financier Jho Low's mega-fraud inflicted such damage… 🧵 pic.twitter.com/BRKOnWwn2x

— Bradley Hope (@bradleyhope) July 23, 2025

At the same time, Hope provided insight into what Low has been up to recently. According to the journalists, the Malaysian businessman has been working with the Chinese government. Hope said during the YouTube Live,

“So what we've determined is that Jho Low…he has become a kind of adviser working for the Chinese government with special situations. Among those situations are companies, major Chinese companies that are dealing with the U.S. government problems. And it's kind of surreal to think about this, but Jho has developed a kind of reputation within China as a strategist or a problem solver when it comes to the U.S. government because he has this sort of lobbying network.”

Hope added,

“I mean, you can argue that they're being kind of misled because he's never successfully lobbied the U.S. government, but this group of people that he has around him are, and he himself are are helping with different lobbying things.”

Low’s influence extends beyond business and governance. According to Malay Mail, he even financed the Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer, The Wolf of Wall Street.