Boosie Badazz and the $300,000 Pardon Mix-Up: A Super Simple Explanation

Who is Boosie Badazz?

• Boosie Badazz is a rapper from the state of Louisiana (his hometown is Baton Rouge, the state capital).
• His real name is Torence Hatch.
• He is known for southern hip-hop songs like Wipe Me Down and Set It Off, and he helped make Webbie’s song Independent.

What is a Pardon? (ELI5)

Important: A pardon is like a magical "erase" stamp from the president. It officially forgives a person for a federal crime, so it’s as if the crime didn’t count on their record. This can save someone from punishment.

Why Did Boosie Need a Pardon?

Boosie got in trouble with the law because he had a gun when he wasn’t allowed to. Here is the story in easy steps:

1. In 2023, Boosie was at a music video shoot in San Diego, California.
2. Police were watching an Instagram Live video because they were looking for a member of a street gang called the Neighborhood Crips.
3. On that live video, police saw Boosie with a loaded handgun stuck in his waistband.
4. They figured out where the video was being filmed and stopped his car.
5. They found the gun on him.

The big problem? Boosie was already a convicted felon (a person who was found guilty of serious crimes before, including a 2011 drug crime). People with that status are not allowed to have guns.

To avoid prison, Boosie made a plea deal (which is like saying, “Yes, I did it, please give me a lighter punishment”). The deal included:

• 3 years of supervised release (meaning a probation officer watches him)
• 300 hours of community service (free work for the community)
• A $50,000 fine

He wanted President Donald Trump to give him a pardon to wipe away the gun conviction so he wouldn’t have to serve that sentence.

Hiring the Lobbyists

Because talking to a president is hard, Boosie paid a company called JM Burkman & Associates $600,000 in 2025.

What is a lobbyist? A lobbyist is a person (or firm) that is paid to talk to government officials and try to convince them to do something.

This firm is based in Washington DC and is run by two men: Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl.

Boosie later told a news site called Notus: “they were real aggressive – they were talking like they had Trump on speed dial.” (That means they acted like they could call the president whenever they wanted.)

Federal records show the firm registered to contact the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress to help Boosie.

The Broken Promise (and the Money Fight)

Boosie hired them to get a pardon. But here is what happened:

• The lobbyists told Boosie’s lawyers that Trump had signed the pardon and they were just waiting for the White House to announce it.
• The announcement never came.
• The Trump White House told Boosie’s attorney that they had never even received a request for his pardon!

So no pardon happened. Now Boosie wants $300,000 back (that’s half of the $600,000 he paid at the start).

The Argument

• Boosie says there was a deal: if the pardon failed, they would return half the money.
• The firm says: “no provision to return half the fee was ever actually agreed to.”
• They are solving this through arbitration (a private way to settle a fight without a normal court).
• Notus reported the lobbyists said they were basically out of money (bankrupt).

Important: This case might be the first of many fights because during Trump’s second presidency he has been giving out lots of pardons to people he likes who were convicted of federal crimes. This created a “clemency economy” – a shady marketplace where millions are paid to lawyers and lobbyists who promise secret access to the president.

What the Lobbyists Say They Did

Burkman says they worked super hard for Boosie:

• They ran a “massive, highly tailored advocacy campaign” to talk to Congress, the executive branch, and political influencers.
• They asked Laura Loomer (a Trump ally) to talk to Natalie Harp (Trump’s executive assistant) to hand the pardon paper to Trump.
• Wohl reportedly said Loomer “is the person for the Jewish guys” (a strange comment about backgrounds).
• Burkman stated: “We continue to believe that Boosie very much deserves a pardon.”

Other lawyers told Notus that a refund clause like the one Boosie claims is very unusual in these deals.

The Lobbyists’ Troubled Past

Burkman and Wohl have a history of messy behavior:

• In 2022, they pleaded guilty in Ohio for running illegal robocalls (automated phone calls) that targeted Black voters. They later paid $1.25 million to New York and $5 million to the FCC (a government agency) to settle.
• They are linked to another case: in March, a New York lawyer named Joshua Nass was charged with trying to extort $500,000 from a former client. Nass had gotten a pardon for Joseph Schwartz (a nursing home operator convicted of fraud) who also hired Burkman.
• Media reports say the pair tried to make up fake sexual harassment claims against Pete Buttigieg (ex-transport secretary) and Robert Mueller (who investigated Russia’s role in the 2016 election).
• They even tricked the Washington Post into reporting a fake FBI raid on Burkman’s home.

(Pictures from the original story show Jack Burkman at a conservative conference in Maryland and Jacob Wohl speaking at a 2018 news conference.)

Summary

Let’s recap the whole tale:

• Rapper Boosie Badazz (Torence Hatch) paid $600,000 to lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl to get a Trump pardon for a gun crime.
• The pardon never appeared, and the White House says it never got the request.
• Boosie wants $300,000 back, but the firm says no refund was promised.
• They are going to arbitration to settle the fight.
• The lobbyists have a record of shady stunts, including illegal robocalls and fake news.
• This shows a bigger trend of people paying huge money for presidential pardons that may never come.

FAQ

1. What is a pardon in kid terms?
It’s like the president saying, “You’re forgiven for that crime,” and making it disappear from your federal record.

2. Why couldn’t Boosie just have a gun?
Because he was already a convicted felon from earlier crimes, and the law says felons can’t own or carry guns.

3. What does “arbitration” mean?
It’s a private meeting where a neutral person listens to both sides of a disagreement and decides what should happen, instead of going to a public court.

4. Did Trump actually sign Boosie’s pardon?
The lobbyists said he did, but the White House says they never received any request. So it seems no real pardon was signed or announced.

5. Why is this story important for regular people?
It reveals a “clemency economy” where wealthy or famous people pay big bucks to middlemen who promise presidential forgiveness—and sometimes those promises are empty, leading to messy legal battles.