On January 15, 2026, Trump pardoned Julio Herrera Velutini, a billionaire banker charged in 2022 with conspiring to bribe Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, along with Vázquez herself, according to the Justice Department's clemency list; an amended grant covered his misdemeanor plea for a contribution by a foreign national. The New York Times reported on October 20, 2026 that months earlier, in late October 2025, his daughter set up a Florida company, Concord Partners, and the family hired Alina Habba, a former Trump personal lawyer then serving as U.S. attorney in New Jersey, as its general counsel. “They offered her $10 million a year for four years along with a range of bonuses,” and “she was guaranteed more than $50 million over four years,” according to interviews and documents obtained by the Times. Habba finalized the deal while still U.S. attorney and began work on January 1, 2026, when she was also a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Isabela Herrera also gave $3.5 million to a super PAC tied to Trump, and Herrera's lawyer, Christopher Kise, formerly on Trump's personal legal team, pressed the clemency request.
The link between the hiring and the pardon rests on unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Times reported. Habba said, “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.” The Justice Department said she did not speak to anyone about a pardon, and a White House official said she had nothing to do with it. See also A Text Attributed to Ric Grenell Offered a Donor Access to 'POTUS' for a Kennedy Center Gift. Grenell Says He Never Sent It.
Update (October 30, 2026): The New York Times reported on October 29, citing multiple people briefed on the conversations, that “President Trump erupted last week after he learned that one of his former lawyers, Alina Habba Mildon, secured a contract worth more than $50 million to work for a billionaire Venezuelan family,” according to Mediaite and The Independent, which quoted the Times; the Times article itself could not be loaded for this update. As quoted by Mediaite, the Times reported that Trump “has told aides and allies that she should donate a portion of that money to his future presidential library or another Trump-related entity.” Mediaite also reported, from the Times, that Trump told at least one ally the Herrera family should not pay her the remainder of the contract.
This account rests on anonymous sources in a single original report and has not been independently confirmed; The Independent said it had contacted the White House for comment. Habba had posted on X on October 21, “I was never paid to secure a pardon. I never met with anyone at the White House or DOJ about a pardon.” The Independent also reported that Trump has reportedly asked White House Counsel Will Scharf to look into Habba's involvement in the separate dispute over her husband's donation intended for the Kennedy Center.
Update (November 1, 2026): Trump criticized the contract on the record on the night of October 31, speaking to reporters at a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago. “I thought it was terrible. I told her, I said, I don't want her paid,” he said, by Mediaite's transcription. Mediaite and The Hill both quote him saying “she used her relationship to do that” and “it was far too much.” Al Jazeera, in a report with Reuters, quoted him: “I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it's not acceptable.” Transcriptions of the exchange vary slightly by outlet, so each quotation is attributed to the outlet that carries it.
He was speaking about the size of her alleged $50 million contract. In the remarks these outlets quote he did not mention the pardon; the link between the hiring and the pardon still rests on the Times's unnamed sources, and Habba and the Justice Department deny it. His words do put on the record part of the October 29 anonymous report: that he objected to the contract and did not want her paid.
Asked whether he expected her to donate to his library, he answered, “No, not her,” by Mediaite's transcription. The rest of that answer differs between Mediaite and The Hill, and it is not clear how it bears on the Times's report that he told aides she should donate. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, Al Jazeera reported.