Boosie Badazz Sues Lobbyists to Recover $300,000

Rapper Boosie Badazz is attempting to recover $300,000 from two political operatives after paying them $600,000 to secure a presidential pardon that never materialized. The rapper, whose legal name is Torence Hatch, entered into a contract with lobbyists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman of JM Burkman Associates on September 30, 2025, while facing a federal sentencing hearing for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The contract stipulated that half of the $600,000 fee was nonrefundable, while the other $300,000 would be returned if a pardon was not secured by a specified deadline. According to Hatch's legal team, the agreement contained a typographical error, listing the refund deadline as January 31, 2025, a date that had already passed when the contract was signed; both parties later acknowledged the intended year was 2026. Over the following months, Wohl and Burkman repeatedly assured Hatch and his criminal defense lawyer, Meghan Blanco, that the pardon was progressing. In a text on New Year's Eve 2025, Burkman claimed President Donald Trump had the documents "in hand and is ready to sign." The next day, Blanco received a phone call stating the pardon had been signed and was...