Boosie Badazz is suing political operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman after shelling out $600,000 to help secure a pardon from President Trump—one that never came. The Baton Rouge rapper is now demanding his money back, and the story behind this deal reads like a masterclass in how desperate times and sketchy operators combine to drain a rapper’s wallet.
Boosie, whose legal name is Torence Hatch, struck a deal with the pair last fall after they pitched themselves as having major pull inside Trump’s orbit. Boosie claims they were so confident they acted like they had POTUS on speed dial. The pitch landed. Boosie was facing federal sentencing on a gun charge from a 2023 arrest in San Diego—he’d pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm—and a Trump pardon was his legal lifeline. The pardon deal was signed on September 30, 2025. The contract split the $600K: $300,000 was nonrefundable, while the other $300,000 was supposed to come back if no pardon arrived by the deadline and Boosie requested the refund in writing.
But the promise of a pardon turned into a new year’s lie. On New Year’s Day, Boosie’s lawyer got a call claiming Trump had already signed the pardon and the White House just hadn’t announced it yet. Twenty-four hours later, that claim evaporated. A White House official told NOTUS the clemency team “has never heard from Wohl or Burkman” and that their involvement “will actively harm” anyone’s chances. In January, Boosie was sentenced to three years of supervised release, 300 hours of community service and a $50,000 fine—a lenient outcome but no pardon.
Now comes the refund fight. Boosie is trying to recover $300,000 under a clause in the contract requiring half the fee be refunded if no pardon was delivered. Burkman and Wohl allegedly refused to pay, arguing no refund agreement existed and later claiming their firm was effectively broke after millions in fines tied to past legal troubles. Here’s the kicker: these guys have a history. In 2022, they were convicted in an Ohio court over a robocall scheme that hit 85,000 voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods with false information designed to scare them away from voting by mail. The Federal Communications Commission imposed a fine of more than $5 million against both Wohl and Burkman over the robocall scheme. So when Boosie handed them six figures, he was trusting two convicted felons who built their reputation by targeting Black voters with disinformation.
Burkman’s defense? Denial. In 30 years of lobbying, he doubts they’ve ever done more work and harder work, and claims the provision in the contract requiring the refund was never agreed to at all. Yet NOTUS reviewed documents showing the refund clause was explicitly in the contract. Even weirder: the contract is riddled with typos and errors, including a refund deadline listed as January 31, 2025, which is several months before the contract was even signed—though both sides later acknowledged the date was supposed to read 2026. This is the agreement that was supposed to change Boosie’s life.
The whole situation exposes what Trump’s second term has created: a pardon economy built on connections, cash, and chaos. Trump issued a pardon for former nursing home tycoon Joseph Schwartz after the businessman paid Burkman and Wohl just under a million dollars to pursue one. Meanwhile, Trump recently issued another round of pardons that excluded both Boosie and Diddy. Boosie’s separate pardon application filed directly with the White House is still pending, but his fight with Wohl and Burkman continues in arbitration.
The 16BARS take: Boosie got played by two grifters with a criminal record longer than their lobbying wins, and now he’s out $600K chasing refunds in arbitration while his freedom should’ve been the only thing on the line. This is what happens when desperation meets the pardon industry.
