US rapper Boosie seeks $300,000 refund after failed Trump pardon bid

Summary

Rapper paid JM Burkman & Associates $600,000 to push for president’s pardon but firm says no partial refund promised Louisiana rapper Boosie Badazz is reportedly looking to claw back $300,000 from a firm of Washington DC lobbyists after they failed to secure a Donald Trump pardon that he hired them to pursue over his conviction on charges of possessing a loaded weapon at music video shooting in 2023. Boosie – whose legal name is Torence Hatch and who hails from his home state’s capital of Baton Rouge – paid JM Burkman & Associates $600,000 in 2025 to advance his push for a pardon from the US president, according to a report on Monday from Notus , which covers the federal government. But a pardon was not forthcoming, and Boosie is now taking up the issue through arbitration, potentially portending a genre of litigation stemming from Trump’s habit during his second presidency of doling out pardons en masse to people whom he considers to be aligned with him and were convicted of federal crimes. In the shadowy world of the so-called “clemency economy”, millions of dollars have been paid to lobbyists, lawyers and pardon advocates bearing proffers of access to Trump. Federal lobbying records show the firm Hatch hired with the aim of securing a pardon from Trump registered to contact the White House, the US justice department and Congress. The lobbyists told Hatch’s attorneys that Trump had signed the pardon and that they were waiting for the White House to announce it, but the clemency was never announced, according to Notus. Meanwhile, Notus said, the Trump White House told Hatch’s attorney that it had not received such a request. The ensuing legal dispute between Hatch and the lobbyists – Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman – centers on whether the firm has a contractual obligation to return half of a $600,000 fee the organization was paid upfront. The firm disputes that it had agreed to return half of the money if no pardon materialized. Burkman told the outlet that it had lobbied hard for Hatch, including “a massive, highly tailored advocacy campaign across Congress, the executive branch and leading political influencers and media figures. “We continue to believe that Boosie very much deserves a pardon.” The firm’s efforts, they said, included lobbying Trump ally Laura Loomer to ask Natalie Harp, the president’s executive assistant, to bring the application to Trump.