Pras Michel has been sentenced to 14 years in prison

He declined to address the court before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly doled out his sentence.

But Pras' attorney, Peter Zeidenberg branded the punishment "completely disproportionate to the offense" and plans to appeal both his conviction and sentence.

Prosecutors had sought a life setence because the 53-year-old rapper had "betrayed his country for money" and "lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes."

They wrote: "His sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed."

The Ready of Not hitmaker's team had sought a three-year prison term and felt a life sentence would be an "absurdly high" punishment because it is one typically handed down to terrorists and cartel leaders.

His attorneys wrote in a court filing: "The Government's position is one that would cause Inspector Javert to recoil and, if anything, simply illustrates just how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence."

The charges included claims Pras violating campaign finance laws during Barack Obama's 2012 election campaign and illegally lobbed the Trump administration in 2017, but the musician argued he simply wanted to make money and got bad legal advice while reinventing himself in the world of politics.

Pras previously insisted he "never wanted to be a spy" but still found his conduct "a bit exciting".

He told Variety: "I don't know if subconsciously it was a bit exciting for me ... I like spy movies, but I never wanted to be a spy. I don't think that's sexy. But a part of it felt like that ...

"Technically, I'm a foreign agent."