Banker's family hired Alina Habba for over $50 million before Trump's pardon

Venezuelan billionaire banker Julio Herrera Velutini received a full pardon from President Trump weeks after his family hired Alina Habba with a guaranteed package of more than $50 million, The New York Times reported.

A billionaire banker who sought clemency from President Donald Trump received a full pardon weeks after his family hired Alina Habba, a lawyer close to the president, on a contract guaranteeing her more than $50 million, The New York Times reported.

Julio Herrera Velutini, who comes from a prominent Venezuelan family, had faced felony bribery charges in the United States. In August 2025 he reached an unusually lenient plea deal for a misdemeanor campaign finance violation, but he still regarded the conviction as a stain on his record.

Herrera turned to his lawyer Christopher M. Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who served on Trump’s personal legal team, to help seek clemency. His 27-year-old daughter, Isabela Herrera, an American citizen, donated $3.5 million to a super PAC tied to Trump. As of last fall, however, the pardon had not come.

Alina Habba's official U.S. Justice Department portrait

The family then hired Habba, a former personal lawyer to Trump, offering her $10 million a year for four years plus bonuses, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Times. In total she was guaranteed more than $50 million over four years.

Under the agreement, Habba became general counsel at Concord Partners, a company Isabela Herrera set up in Florida in late October 2025. The company has no public profile. Habba finalized the deal days after the company was registered, while she was still serving as U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

She began working for Concord Partners on Jan. 1. Weeks later, Trump granted Herrera a full and unconditional pardon.

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