Overview
- U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly imposed a 14-year prison term and three years of supervised release, with Michel ordered to surrender on January 27, 2026.
- Michel was ordered in October–November to forfeit roughly $64–65 million linked to the foreign influence and campaign finance schemes.
- A jury convicted him in April 2023 on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent, for funneling Jho Low’s money into Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign and later trying to sway U.S. officials during the Trump administration.
- Prosecutors cited guidelines recommending life and wrote that Michel “betrayed his country for money,” while the defense called the sentence “completely disproportionate” and will challenge the conviction and sentence on appeal.
- The high-profile trial featured testimony from Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Jho Low remains a fugitive, and a retrial bid over an attorney’s AI-written summation was denied after that lawyer pleaded guilty to criminal contempt for leaking grand jury material.