Overview
- Boosie Badazz has opened arbitration and filed a civil suit after paying JM Burkman & Associates $600,000 to seek a pardon from President Trump and is asking for at least $300,000 back following a NOTUS report Monday.
- A contract obtained by reporters includes a clause saying half the fee must be refunded if a full presidential pardon was not secured by a set deadline, a term the rapper’s lawyers cite in the dispute.
- Texts and emails reviewed by reporters show the operatives told Boosie’s lawyer at the turn of the year that a pardon was “in hand and ready to sign,” but no White House announcement or application was ever confirmed.
- Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman deny any refund obligation and say their firm cannot pay, while their past convictions and multimillion-dollar fines for a robocall scheme have intensified skepticism of their claims.
- The White House clemency team says it never worked with the operatives and warns outside actors can harm pardon chances, and the case could test how private arbitration and civil courts handle claims tied to paid access to the president.