Former Trump attorney Alina Mildon has condemned The New York Times for implying that her reported $50 million legal position was linked to efforts to obtain a presidential pardon.
In an article published Tuesday, reporter Tyler Pager wrote that Mildon, formerly known as Habba, became general counsel at Concord Partners, a Florida company established by Isabela Herrera in October 2025.
Only weeks after Mildon joined the firm, Herrera’s father, billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini, received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for a misdemeanor campaign finance offense.
People familiar with Mildon’s contract told The Times they believed the family hired her to assist Velutini’s pardon campaign. They also said they were stunned by the value of the compensation package.
Mildon rejected that account 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 The Times could have reached a different conclusion by reviewing its own reporting, which, she said, had already credited another attorney with achieving the result “without me” while 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 wrote.
Former Trump attorney Alina Mildon, formerly known as Habba, criticized The New York Times on Tuesday over suggestions that she received $50 million to help obtain a presidential pardon.
Mildon called the allegations “false and defamatory” in a post on X. Source: X/@AlinaHaba
Federal prosecutors charged Velutini in August 2022 over an alleged 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 served as a consultant to the banker initially pleaded not guilty to the felony allegations.
Attorney Christopher M. Kise later negotiated an agreement with federal prosecutors. Under the deal, Velutini pleaded guilty in August 2025 to one misdemeanor campaign finance charge.
Vazquez and the former FBI agent subsequently entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor offenses as well.
Despite the reduced charge, Velutini remained concerned that the conviction would damage his record. According to The Times, he then turned to Kise — a former Florida solicitor general and member of Trump’s personal legal team — to pursue clemency.
Around the same period, Velutini’s 27-year-old daughter, Herrera, gave $3.5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.
While the family was waiting for a decision on the clemency request, it hired Mildon, who was then serving as an adviser to the Department of Justice.
The proposed package paid Mildon $10 million annually for four years, in addition to various bonuses. The Times reported that her total guaranteed compensation exceeded $50 million during her four-year tenure as Concord Partners’ general counsel.
Billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini was pardoned by the president in January over a misdemeanor campaign finance conviction.
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Mildon finalized the agreement with the family just days after Concord Partners was incorporated, 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’
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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.
The Daily Mail has reached out to The New York Times, the DOJ and the White House for comment.