One of the founders of the seminal New Jersey rap group, the Fugees, and a former Justice Department employee were accused Friday by feds of opening multiple bank accounts to funnel tens of millions of dollars in funds from overseas accounts controlled by a Malaysian business tycoon.

Prakazrel (“Pras”) Michel and former Justice Department official George Higginbotham allegedly planned to use the funds to attempt to influence the Justice Department’s investigation of Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman who was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with money laundering, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Low, who is still at large, was accused earlier this year of having a role in the alleged embezzlement of $4.5 billion from a Malaysian fund known as 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

“According to the allegations in the complaint, Michel and Higginbotham defrauded U.S. financial institutions and laundered millions of dollars into the United States as part of an effort to improperly influence the Department’s investigation into the massive embezzlement and bribery scheme involving 1MDB,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski in the release. “The Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners will do everything we can to trace, seize, and forfeit the proceeds of foreign corruption that flow through the U.S. financial system.”

The pair allegedly made false and misleading statements to U.S. financial institutions that housed the accounts in order to mislead them about the source and lead the investigation away from Jho Low, the release stated.

The department announced Friday that it took action to forfeit and recover more than $73 million in funds associated with the international conspiracy.

Michel, 46, was a member of the Fugees alongside Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill and won two Grammys for his work with the group. He grew up in Irvington, and, like Hill, attended Columbia High School in Maplewood.

The department has not filed any charges against Michel, but last week Higginbotham was charged with one felony count of conspiracy to make false statements to a bank and he pled guilty to the charge on Friday, according to a report from ABC.

The report stated that last November, allegedly at Michel’s request, Higginbotham sent an email to a major bank and insisted that funds were being transferred to “from a legitimate company overseas for the purpose of an entertainment venture.” Higginbotham admitted in court that he knew what he said was not true and that the funds were going to be used to support Low.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.