Rapper Boosie Badazz is in arbitration against two well-known MAGA operatives after paying them $600,000 to secure a Trump pardon over a gun charge that never arrived, NOTUS reported Monday.
Boosie, whose legal name is Torence Hatch, is seeking to recover $300,000 from Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, the lobbyists at JM Burkman & Associates, according to a contract reviewed by NOTUS. The pair have refused, citing cost overruns and saying they are effectively bankrupt, the outlet reported.
Boosie told NOTUS he signed on after hearing the firm's pitch late last September.
"They were real aggressive, they were talking like they had Trump on speed dial," he said.
What followed, according to texts and emails NOTUS reviewed, was a steady stream of assurances.
Burkman said in a New Year's Eve text that the president had it "in hand and is ready to sign." A day later, criminal defense lawyer Meghan Blanco said she was told the pardon had been signed and only needed announcing.
Blanco told NOTUS that a White House aide said days later they had not seen a pardon application for Boosie at all. There is no single channel for submitting one under this administration, so the pair could have filed through another route.
Wohl and Burkman are convicted felons who paid $1.25 million over a robocall scheme aimed at Black voters, and who secretly founded an AI lobbying firm that clients said didn't work. In texts with Blanco, the two repeatedly invoked far-right activist Laura Loomer, whose influence over Trump has been tied to firings across the government.
Wohl also claimed endorsements from Erika Kirk, Mike Cernovich and House Speaker Mike Johnson. A representative for Kirk told NOTUS she doesn't know who the rapper is. Cernovich said he never advocated for a pardon, and Johnson's office categorically denied any connection.
A White House official, granted anonymity, told NOTUS the clemency team "has never heard from Wohl or Burkman" and that their involvement "will actively harm" anyone's chances.
Boosie had earlier appealed to Trump's "pardon czar," Alice Marie Johnson. He has not been pardoned.
The firm said it "cannot think of a single client for whom our firm has done more work than Boosie," and that "no provision to return half the fee was ever actually agreed to." Their lawyer has moved to dismiss, arguing they never saw the signed contract until arbitration began.
