Former Trump lawyer Alina Mildon has criticized The New York Times over a report suggesting she was offered a contract worth more than $50 million to help secure a presidential pardon.
In an article published on Tuesday, reporter Tyler Pager wrote that Mildon, formerly known as Habba, became general counsel at Concord Partners, a Florida-based company founded by Isabela Herrera in October 2025.
Only weeks after Mildon joined the company, Herrera’s father, billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini, received a pardon from President Donald Trump for a misdemeanor campaign finance offense.
People familiar with Mildon’s contract told The Times they believed she had been hired partly to assist with Velutini’s effort to obtain clemency. The sources also expressed surprise at the size of her reported compensation.
Mildon strongly rejected the claims in a post on X.
“Big Scoop: After leaving public service, I’ve gone back to doing what I have done for my entire career: being a lawyer,” she wrote sarcastically.
She added that if The New York Times reviewed its own reporting, it had already credited another attorney with achieving the result “without me” and then taking credit for it.
“Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the DOJ — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false and defamatory,” Mildon said.
Former Trump lawyer Alina Mildon, formerly known as Habba, lashed out at The New York Times on Tuesday over claims that she was paid $50 million to help secure a presidential pardon
Mildon denied the allegations on X, calling them “false and defamatory.” Source: X/@AlinaHaba
Federal prosecutors charged Velutini in August 2022 over allegations that he participated in a scheme to bribe Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez in an effort to remove a regulator investigating his bank.
Velutini, Vazquez and a former FBI agent who worked as a consultant to the banker initially pleaded not guilty to the felony charges.
Attorney Christopher M. Kise later helped negotiate an agreement with federal prosecutors. Under the deal, Velutini pleaded guilty in August 2025 to a single misdemeanor campaign finance charge.
Vazquez and the former FBI agent subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges as well.
According to The Times, Velutini remained concerned that even the reduced charge could damage his reputation. He then turned to Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who had served on Trump’s personal legal team, to help seek clemency.
Around the same period, Velutini’s 27-year-old daughter, Herrera, donated $3.5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.
While the family was still waiting for a decision on the clemency request, it hired Mildon, who was then working as an adviser to the Department of Justice.
The reported package included $10 million a year for four years, along with several bonuses. In total, The Times reported, Mildon was guaranteed more than $50 million over the four-year period as Concord Partners’ general counsel.
Billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini received a presidential pardon in January for a misdemeanor campaign finance violation
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Report: Elon Musk Chose to Limit Ukraine’s Starlink Access
Mildon finalized the agreement with the family just days after Concord Partners was registered, while she was still serving as a U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
She was also serving as a senior adviser to then Attorney General Pam Bondi, overseeing US attorneys across the nation as a special government employee, which allows individuals to work for the federal government for up to 130 days and maintain outside employment with conflict of interest restrictions.
In that position, Mildon was granted an office at the DOJ, and due to her position in New Jersey, she had protective detail from US Marshals.
Mildon then resigned from her position as the US Attorney for New Jersey after a panel of federal judges ruled that her appointment to the position was carried out unlawfully.
She then formally began working for Concord Partners on January 1, 2026, the Times reports. Just two weeks later, on January 15, Trump granted the banker a ‘full and unconditional pardon.’
But a spokesperson for the DOJ told the Times that Habba did not speak to anyone about a pardon.
A White House official also told the outlet that Habba had nothing to do with the president’s decision to grant Velutini a pardon – saying that the Trump administration follows a pardon review process that includes the White House Counsel’s Office and the DOJ.
Habba claimed that the media is trying to attack her and her new husband, 29-year-old Turkish billionaire Turhan Mildon
She urged her followers not to let the report ‘distract you from the amazing work this president and administration has done’
Join the discussion
Should political pardons be scrutinized more when big money and personal connections are involved?
In her post attacking the outlet for the article, Habba lashed out at the reporter for using her maiden name in the article, calling him an ‘activist “journalist”‘ who has written ‘many hit pieces on me and my family.’
She argued that the paper was using her maiden name for clicks on its stories, calling the move ‘intentional, pathetic and obvious.’
‘I have stayed silent while the media attacked my husband, my friends and me over the past week,’ Mildon continued, mentioning her new husband, 29-year-old Turkish billionaire Turhan Mildon.
‘My entire public career has been dedicated to calling out the radical left and the fake news,’ she noted. ‘Anyone who thought that would change hasn’t been paying attention.’
‘We are 14 days away from the election – this is just another October surprise,’ Mildon then argued, as she urged her followers to ‘not let left wing media distract you from the amazing work this president and administration has done.
‘I know this game all too well,’ she concluded.
Our News Outlet has reached out to The New York Times, the DOJ and the White House for comment.
