Trump sold Julio Herrera Velutini a pardon to enrich Alina Habba
By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit ·
After the Herrera family gave Alina Habba a $50 million contract and donated millions to a super PAC, Donald Trump pardoned Julio Herrera Velutini, proving justice is for sale.
I grew up in Flint, Michigan. I know what happens when the law only works for the people who can buy it. In my neighborhood, the law was a hammer used on the poor and a shield for the powerful. This latest scandal is not a "legal arrangement." It is a transaction. Donald Trump did not grant clemency based on mercy or merit. He sold a pardon to Venezuelan billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini to reward a loyalist and enrich his inner circle.
A shell company for a federal prosecutor
The mechanics of this deal are as brazen as they are disgusting. Julio Herrera Velutini faced federal felony bribery charges. He eventually struck a plea deal for a misdemeanor campaign finance violation in August 2025. But a misdemeanor is still a stain on a billionaire's record. To wipe it clean, the Herrera family deployed their wealth.
Isabela Herrera, the banker's daughter, started the process. She donated $3.5 million to a super PAC tied to Donald Trump. Then, she created a Florida company called Concord Partners in October 2025. According to The Daily Beast, this company has no public profile and an unclear business purpose. It was a phantom firm designed for one thing: a payoff.
Days after the company registered, the family hired Alina Habba as general counsel. The deal guaranteed Habba $10 million a year for four years plus bonuses. In total, the contract was worth more than $50 million. The most galling part is the timing. Habba finalized this deal while she was serving as the acting United States attorney for the District of New Jersey.
She was a sitting federal prosecutor signing a multi-million dollar contract with the family of a man facing federal charges. It is the same rot that turns public service into a private audition for corporate kickbacks.
The machinery of a clemency racket
This is not an isolated incident. It is a business model. La Voce di New York reports on a House Judiciary Committee study detailing a "pay-to-play clemency industry." The report claims nearly 300 political influencers sell access to the president. This access was sold successfully 197 times during Trump's second term.
The Herrera case follows the exact mechanism of the pardon of Elliott Broidy. In both instances, the state traded legal immunity for the financial support and political loyalty of high-net-worth Republican fundraisers. The law becomes a commodity. If you have enough zeros in your bank account, the criminal code is merely a suggestion.
The timeline proves the quid pro quo. Habba officially joined Concord Partners on January 1. On January 15, Donald Trump pardoned Herrera Velutini. A week later, Trump issued an amended order to specifically cover the misdemeanor. The money flowed in, the lawyer was paid, and the billionaire walked free.
The lie of the legal defense
Alina Habba claims the deal was "vetted and disclosed to the DOJ." She argues that another lawyer, Christopher Kise, did the actual work to secure the plea deal. She insists any link between her job and the pardon is "false and defamatory."
This is the "both sides" framing that ignores who holds the leverage. It does not matter if Kise did the initial legwork. Kise is a member of Trump’s personal legal team. Habba is a personal lawyer to Trump. They are all part of the same closed loop of power. Here, the law was simply bought.
Habba’s $10 million annual salary is not a market rate. It is a bribe wrapped in a contract. Daily Kos makes it clear: this was not a job. It was a payment for access.
The cost of this corruption lands on people like my parents. When billionaires buy their way out of bribery charges, it tells every worker in Flint or Detroit that the system is rigged. It confirms that there are two Americas: one where you go to jail for a mistake, and one where you pay a lawyer $50 million to make the mistake vanish. This is a theft of public trust. Justice requires that the "pay-to-play" racket be dismantled and those who sold the presidency's power be held accountable.