Boosie Badazz learned an expensive lesson about Washington power brokers this year. The Louisiana rapper paid a prominent lobbying firm $600,000 to secure a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, only to find himself fighting to recover the money after the promised outcome never materialized.
The situation traces back to June 2023, when Boosie Badazz faced federal charges for firearm possession and ammunition violations—offenses that carried a potential 10-year prison sentence. Facing serious legal jeopardy, he decided to pursue a pardon from whoever won the 2024 election. That strategy led him to JM Burkman & Associates in October 2025, the lobbying outfit founded by Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl.
The firm promised results. According to reporting from NOTUS, a nonprofit news outlet covering federal government matters, Burkman & Associates presented themselves as well-connected insiders. They told Boosie they had backing from Republican influencers including Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, and Erika Kirk. House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Representatives Nancy Mace and Andy Biggs, they claimed, had all endorsed the pardon bid. Representatives for Kirk, Cernovich, and Speaker Johnson quickly denied involvement.
The contract signed between Boosie and the firm included a specific provision: he’d receive a $300,000 refund if they failed to secure a full presidential pardon by January 31, 2025. That deadline came and went. By January 2026, Boosie received his actual sentence—supervised release, community service, and a fine. Prison time was avoided, but the pardon never happened.
Now Boosie is in arbitration seeking at least half of the $600,000 he paid. The firm hasn’t agreed to refund anything.
When speaking to NOTUS about his experience, Boosie described the firm’s pitch as aggressively confident. “They were real aggressive about it,” he said. “They were talking like they had Trump on speed dial.”
Those claims didn’t hold up. A White House official, speaking anonymously to NOTUS, delivered a direct rebuke: “The team at the White House working on clemency has never heard from Wohl or Burkman, does not support their work, and would advise anyone seeking clemency that their involvement will actively harm their chances.”
The context here matters. Burkman and Wohl aren’t operating from a position of credibility. In 2022, both pleaded guilty to running an illegal robocall campaign targeting Black voters in Ohio. They settled that case for $1.25 million. Before that, the two were reportedly involved in an attempt to plant false sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller—an effort detailed in CNN reporting from 2018.
Text messages reviewed by NOTUS show the firm asking for more time to “get the pardon done,” even months after the contract deadline had passed. In one March 2026 message, Burkman wrote: “We owe more six million dollars total due to the robo call fines plus other debts. Let’s just focus right now on getting this pardon done.”
One of Boosie’s attorneys offered perspective on what likely happened. “When people are in difficult situations, they always want to have hope, right? You always want to have that tangible notion that this might turn out okay. And unfortunately, in this society of ours, there are people who recognize that in others and prey on it.”
For its part, JM Burkman & Associates maintains it delivered value. “We cannot think of a single client for whom our firm has done more work than Boosie,” the company said. “This included 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.”
That defense rings hollow against the White House’s account and the firm’s documented history of misdirection. Boosie’s situation stands as a cautionary tale about desperation meeting opportunism in Washington—and why money alone doesn’t guarantee access to power.
★TR★
