NYT: pardon followed $50 million deal with Trump’s former lawyer Habba
A Venezuelan billionaire hired Alina Habba, and weeks later Trump pardoned him, the New York Times reports. Habba reportedly arranged the job while still a US attorney.
Archive image · Photo: U.S. Department of Justice / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini received a pardon from US President Donald Trump after a company linked to his family hired Trump’s former lawyer Alina Habba, the New York Times reports. Herrera had sought clemency after being charged with bribery. According to the report, the arrangement with Habba was worth $50 million; she was to serve as general counsel of a company set up by Herrera’s daughter.
Weeks after Habba started there, Trump granted Herrera a full and unconditional pardon, the newspaper reports. Habba was reportedly finalising the arrangement while still serving as US attorney in New Jersey and as a senior adviser to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Whether there is any link between the arrangement and the pardon has not been established; Democracy Now’s summary did not include responses from Habba or the White House.