Alina Habba Mildon, a former attorney for President Donald Trump, has been terminated from a lucrative $50 million contract with Concord Partners, a Florida-based firm established by the daughter of Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini, according to a Nov. 4 letter obtained by The New York Times. The letter cited a "failure to perform duties" as the reason for her dismissal.
The termination came just days after Trump publicly criticized the arrangement, calling it "totally obnoxious and outrageous" and urging the Herrera family to stop paying his former lawyer. "I thought it was terrible. I told her," Trump told reporters. "I said I don't want her paid. I thought we had somebody speak to the people that did it, and she used her relationship to do that."
Mildon, 42, had been hired as Concord's general counsel under a four-year agreement that guaranteed her more than $50 million in salary and bonuses. Despite her termination, she will retain an $8 million signing bonus and $6.5 million in payments already received, totaling $14.5 million. A person close to Mildon told the Times she intends to pursue legal action.
The circumstances surrounding Mildon's employment and subsequent firing have drawn scrutiny due to the involvement of Herrera Velutini, who had faced felony bribery charges for an alleged scheme to influence the governor of Puerto Rico. He reached a plea agreement in August 2025 that reduced the case to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation. Seeking to clear his record, Herrera Velutini enlisted Christopher Kise, a former Trump attorney, to help secure a presidential pardon. His daughter, Isabela Herrera, also donated $3.5 million to a Trump-aligned super PAC.
In October 2025, Isabela Herrera established Concord Partners in Florida. Mildon finalized her employment agreement days later, while she was still serving as U.S. attorney in New Jersey, and formally began working for the company on Jan. 1. Weeks later, Trump granted Herrera Velutini a full and unconditional pardon. Two other defendants in the Puerto Rico bribery case, including former Puerto Rican Gov. Wanda Vázquez, were pardoned at the same time.
Mildon, who was serving as a senior adviser to the attorney general and a special government employee when she began working for Concord, has denied any involvement in securing the pardon. "Any insulation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the D.O.J. — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false," she previously said in a statement.
The termination letter also suggested that Mildon's priorities had shifted away from the company after she began dating her now-husband Turhan Mildon, a 25-year-old Turkish investor, earlier this year. The firing underscores the ongoing fallout from Trump's public rebuke and raises questions about the intersection of legal representation, political influence, and lucrative contracts.
As the story develops, it may add to broader discussions about ethics and influence in Trump's orbit, including debates over political branding and precedent and internal GOP tensions. Legal experts suggest Mildon's case could test the limits of contractual obligations and political loyalty.
