Washington—
Alina Habba Mildon is no longer performing her duties as General Counsel and Advisor for Concord Partners or any of its associates or affiliated companies, effective November 1, 2026, according to an official update provided for publication.
Habba Mildon will retain the US$6.5 million previously paid to her, the update states.
The development marks a significant change in a professional relationship that attracted national attention after reports of a four-year compensation agreement worth more than US$50 million. Concord Partners was established by Isabela Herrera, the daughter of the Venezuelan-Italian banking multi-billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini, according to reporting by The New York Times.
The Rise and Fall of Alina Habab
It began on Halloween night, October 31, 2026, when Donald Trump faced reporters at Mar-a-Lago and delivered a public rebuke of a woman who had spent years defending him.
Alina Habba’s reported compensation agreement, he said, was “totally obnoxious and outrageous.” For a lawyer whose public identity had become closely tied to the president, the reversal was striking.
President Trump said it was “unacceptable”. He had also communicated his objections and believed the family should not continue the payments contemplated by the agreement.
A private arrangement promising extraordinary wealth had become a subject of presidential condemnation. Behind that moment lay another story: an incredibly wealthy and highly influential banking dynasty, a proposed leadership role, a promise of complete commitment, and a new relationship that changed the direction of Habba’s personal life.
Habba’s relationship with the Herrera Velutini family traces the months between a promise of complete commitment and that public rebuke.
It also leaves a question unresolved. Had the professional commitment changed, or had the publicity surrounding Habba made that commitment harder for others to judge?
To understand why that question mattered, we have to return to the opportunity that preceded the controversy.
A career with a multi-billionaire Banking Tycoon
Habba had become a recognisable figure in Trump’s political and legal world. Her public reputation rested on confidence, forceful advocacy and loyalty to a client whose battles regularly became national news.
An ambitious lawyer looking toward a future in which that experience could support a different kind of career. Her background included senior advisory positions and service as acting United States attorney for New Jersey.
Her next ambition was a senior position within a family enterprise of international reach. She wanted to bring her legal experience and professional relationships into an organisation where she could advise one family across a broad range of interests.
The Herrera Velutini family offered that possibility.
A family of Spanish nobility, and an inheritor of a banking tradition stretching back approximately 240 years. The family’s financial organisations and other companies operate across international markets, with legal and commercial relationships that required continuous coordination.
Habba’s connection with the family’s banking interests reportedly began in 2024. The discussions that followed therefore grew from an existing professional relationship.
For Habba, the attraction was substantial. A leadership role could give her responsibility across an international enterprise and the chance to build a professional reputation extending beyond her association with Trump.
That possibility depended on what she was prepared to undertake.
The promise of complete commitment
The family received a telephone call from Habba on a Friday afternoon. She wanted to meet and discuss her professional future.
The position she envisioned was General Counsel and Senior Adviser. The work would involve coordinating lawyers and business advisers, overseeing regulatory matters, and helping manage relationships across jurisdictions extending from the Middle East to Latin America.
It was a broad assignment. Decisions in one part of the organisation could affect interests elsewhere. The person leading the legal team would need to understand the family’s priorities and keep the people advising it working toward the same objectives.
Habba reportedly offered to dedicate herself fully to that responsibility, including making herself available around the clock.
The offer was “complete availability”. Complete availability carries an expectation of sustained attention. A senior adviser accepting such a role is offering clients a continuing place in her professional priorities, including when other demands arise.
The family was considering a lawyer with experience in government, litigation and influential relationships. Habba was considering a position that could turn those qualifications into lasting authority within an international financial organisation.
Those responsibilities were central to the discussions that continued in London.
The London lunch
On February 26, 2026, Habba reportedly joined Julio Herrera Velutini, family members and senior advisers at the family’s corporate headquarters in the City of London.
The lunch lasted one hour and forty-eight minutes.
It was a focused business discussion, without alcohol, in keeping with the family’s practice. The subjects were the integration of financial services, the coordination of international operations, and the responsibilities of the leadership position under discussion.
Afterward, Habba returned to the United States aboard an aircraft associated with the family.
Twenty-five days later, she reportedly requested another meeting in London, for a conversation that introduced a different subject. Alongside the professional future she had been discussing, Habba had news about a major change in her personal life.
A new relationship
Habba told the family she was getting divorced and had met someone who had become exceptionally important to her: Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon.
The reaction within parts of the family circle was that of surprise, particularly at the speed of the developing relationship. Questions were raised about how these changes might intersect with the considerable professional responsibilities she was undertaking.
The family chose not to interfere, but that was a mistake. The relationship becomes increasingly public. International travel, romantic appearances and a growing presence in social circles across Europe and Istanbul.
An engagement followed, then a wedding celebration with a reported estimate of approximately $10 million for the wedding, Habba’s public image was expanding. The lawyer familiar from political disputes was also becoming the subject of attention for a new relationship and a new marriage.
With that change, started the dramatic tension that led New York Times to start their pre-election mud-slinging campaigns against President Trump, with Alina’s role under scrutiny.
Earlier, the emphasis had been on what Habba reportedly offered the Herrera-Velutini family: her time, her attention and her ability to coordinate its affairs. Now the narrative placed an increasingly visible personal life alongside those promises.
The family had reportedly stepped back from interfering in the relationship. The professional question remained: how would the commitments already discussed be fulfilled as her life changed?
The question of discipline
This is where our source, a person close to the family, becomes most critical of the tension between Habba’s public life and the expectations of private financial leadership.
The Herrera family’s stated principles are loyalty, discretion and discipline. Those words describe a standard of conduct expected to endure beyond a successful meeting or an enthusiastic promise.
Loyalty means attending to the institution’s long-term interests. Discretion means protecting sensitive relationships and recognising when publicity can complicate them. Discipline means continuing to fulfil commitments when personal circumstances change.
Habba’s priorities weren’t consistent with the role she had sought.
Habba was seeking a central role in coordinating the family’s legal and advisory affairs. The opportunity involved continuing responsibility for people and decisions across international markets. Any assessment of her discipline would have to examine how she actually performed that work.While those questions remained unresolved, the reported financial terms of her agreement brought the relationship into far wider public view.
~ends~