Paying $3M for a Trump Pardon That May Never Come — Who's Really Getting Scammed

Executive Briefing

• Reveals clemency seekers paying $2–3 million to law firms for pardon advocacy under Trump's expanded use of executive clemency power
• Documents Binance founder Changpeng Zhao spent $2 million on lobbying before receiving a Trump pardon in October 2025
• Warns experts say most big spenders never receive pardons, with one law professor calling many clients 'scammers being scammed'
• Shows rapper Boosie BadAzz paid $600,000 to lobbyists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman for a pardon that never materialized, sparking a lawsuit
• Notes Trump abandoned traditional DOJ pardon review process, triggering a free-for-all lobbying surge unlike anything seen previously