Julio Herrera Velutini really wanted a pardon.<\/p>\n
A billionaire banker from a prominent Venezuelan family, Mr. Herrera faced felony bribery charges in the United States and struck an unusually lenient plea deal in August 2025 for a misdemeanor campaign finance violation. But he felt that reduced charge was still a stain on his record.<\/p>\n
So Mr. Herrera deployed his lawyer, Christopher M. Kise, the former Florida solicitor general who was on Mr. Trump\u2019s personal legal team, to help with a plea for clemency. His 27-year-old daughter, Isabela Herrera, who is an American citizen, donated $3.5 million to a super PAC tied to Mr. Trump. But as of last fall, the pardon remained elusive.<\/p>\n
Then the Herrera family hired Alina Habba, who had been one of Mr. Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, Ms. Habba would become general counsel at Concord Partners, a company that Ms. Herrera set up in late October 2025<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n She formally began her work for Concord Partners on Jan. 1. Weeks later, Mr. Trump granted Mr. Herrera a full and unconditional pardon.<\/p>\n The sequence of events raises questions about how Mr. Herrera secured the pardon and who might have helped him. People familiar with Ms. Habba\u2019s contract said they believed that she was brought in to help with Mr. Herrera\u2019s push for a pardon and expressed surprise at the scale of the compensation.<\/p>\n Ms. Habba denied any role in the pardon.<\/p>\n \u201cAny insinuation that my employment \u2014 all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J. \u2014 had anything to do with securing a pardon is false,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n Ms. Habba was a special government employee at the time, which allows individuals to work for the federal government for up to 130 days and maintain outside employment with conflict-of-interest restrictions.<\/p>\n She declined to discuss her work for Concord.<\/p>\n Ms. Herrera and Mr. Herrera did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Neither did their companies. In a statement, the Justice Department said Ms. Habba did not speak to anyone about a pardon.<\/p>\n A White House official said that Ms. Habba had nothing to do with the pardon and that the administration follows a pardon review process that includes the White House Counsel\u2019s Office and the Justice Department.<\/p>\n In Mr. Trump\u2019s second term, a pardon industry has sprouted up<\/a>, with wealthy criminals paying well-connected lawyers, fixers and lobbyists to appeal to the administration and its allies in an effort to secure pardons. Many pardon seekers have come to the conclusion that supporting Mr. Trump and his political agenda is the fastest way to secure clemency.<\/p>\n Some people looking for pardons have reported paying hundreds of thousands of dollars or even $1 million to hire people promising access to the president or influence over the pardon process.<\/p>\n For Ms. Habba, the job from the Herrera family came at a pivotal point in her life and career.<\/p>\n She resigned<\/a> in December 2025 as U.S. attorney in New Jersey after a panel of federal judges ruled<\/a> that her appointment by Mr. Trump had been carried out unlawfully. Her second marriage was also falling apart.<\/p>\n The arrangement with the Herreras provided her with a new level of financial security. She also found new love. Shortly after the pardon was issued, Ms. Habba started dating Turhan Mildon, a Turkish investor.<\/a><\/p>\n They were married last month in a lavish ceremony in New York. The guest list included Attorney General Todd Blanche; the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel; and Will Scharf, the White House counsel.<\/p>\n The couple is now engaged in high-profile feud<\/a> with Richard Grenell, a longtime Trump ally. Ms. Habba has accused Mr. Grenell of misallocating a donation from her husband to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which Mr. Grenell was running at the time. Mr. Grenell has denied her accusations, calling them absurd.<\/p>\n Ms. Habba brought those accusations directly to Mr. Trump, who directed Mr. Scharf to investigate them. The Times has previously reported that the investigation centers on a bank transfer<\/a> from the Democratic Republic of Congo to a Texas defense company.<\/p>\n Mr. Herrera, who also has Italian citizenship, is a member of the Herrera family, a banking, real estate and fashion dynasty that dates back to the 14th century. The family owns estates and castles in Caracas, Venezuela; the Canary Islands; Spain; and Germany.<\/p>\n Mr. Herrera founded a bank based in Puerto Rico in 2008.<\/p>\n In August 2022, he was charged for his role in a scheme to bribe Gov. Wanda V\u00e1zquez of Puerto Rico to dismiss a regulator who was investigating the bank. Mr. Herrera, Ms. V\u00e1zquez and a former F.B.I. agent who had worked as a consultant for Mr. Herrera all pleaded not guilty to felony charges.<\/p>\n Mr. Kise, Mr. Herrera\u2019s lawyer, helped negotiate a deal with the Justice Department under which Mr. Herrera pleaded guilty in August 2025 to a single misdemeanor campaign finance charge. Ms. V\u00e1zquez and the former F.B.I. agent also pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, disappointing career prosecutors who had pushed for harsher sentences.<\/p>\n All three were pardoned by Mr. Trump at the same time, shortly before they were scheduled to be sentenced for the misdemeanor charges.<\/p>\n