Billionaire Scored Trump Pardon After $50 Million Deal With Alina Habba
Billionaire Scored Trump Pardon After $50 Million Deal With Alina Habba
Michael LucianoWed, October 21, 2026 at 12:42 AM UTC
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Pool via AP
A Venezuelan billionaire secured a pardon from President Donald Trump after his family gave Trump’s former attorney at least $50 million, The New York Times reported on Tuesday night.
Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan-Italian businessman, struck a lenient plea agreement in August 2025 after being accused of attempting to bribe the governor of Puerto Rico in 2022. Herrera ended up pleading guilty to one misdemeanor campaign finance violation.
Early this year, Trump pardoned him altogether shortly after Herrera’s family arranged for Habba to join a law firm that was registered in 2025. The Times said Herrera deployed his attorney, Christopher Kise, who was previously Trump’s personal lawyer, to help lobby for the pardon. Herrera’s daughter, a U.S. citizen, had given $3.5 million to a Trump-connected super PAC.
The Times further reported:
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Then the Herrera family hired Alina Habba, who had been one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers and at the time was an adviser at the Justice Department. They offered her $10 million a year for four years along with a range of bonuses. In total, including bonuses, she was guaranteed more than $50 million over four years, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.
Under the agreement, Ms. Habba would become general counsel at Concord Partners, a company that Ms. Herrera set up in late October 2025 in Florida. The company has no public profile and its business remains unclear even to some people associated with the Herrera business empire. Ms. Habba finalized her deal days after the company was registered.
At the time, Ms. Habba was also a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi, overseeing U.S. attorneys. She had an office at the Justice Department and a protective detail from the U.S. Marshals, a holdover from her time serving as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
She formally began her work for Concord Partners on Jan. 1. Weeks later, Mr. Trump granted Mr. Herrera a full and unconditional pardon.
When reached for comment by the Times, Habba denied having any role in the pardon.
“Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J. — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false,” she said in a statement, while declining to elaborate on what, if any, actual work she is doing at Concord.
Habba resigned as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey last year after a federal court found that Trump appointed her unlawfully. At the time, Habba’s second marriage was deteriorating, and the Times stated that the Concord job gave her “a new level of financial security.” After the pardon was issued, Habba began dating Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon, whom she married in September.
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
