Crisis PR Through a Federal Trial
Pras Michel — Fugees
A well-known musician faced a multi-year federal case involving international lobbying and financial charges — the kind of story that gets a headline with every new filing, witness or setback. By the time it reached trial, his name was being flattened into one word: guilty. My job wasn't to argue the case — that's what the lawyers are for. It was to make sure the person didn't disappear behind the case.
This work lives at the intersection of legal strategy and public narrative, and the two have to move in lockstep. I stayed in constant contact with counsel so nothing said publicly ever undercut a legal position, was deliberate about when to speak and when silence served him better, and made sure every statement — even a hard one responding to a conviction or a lengthy sentence — sounded like it came from a person, not a legal department. That same tone carried through wildly different news cycles: indictment, a trial with unexpected celebrity witnesses, a guilty verdict, sentencing and an appeal.
His story stayed a story about a legal fight in progress, not a closed book. Coverage consistently included his perspective and his team's next steps rather than only the prosecution's version, and the statements around the toughest moments were widely picked up largely as written — usually the best sign a message landed the way it was meant to.