President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini in January 2026, weeks after his family offered former Trump attorney and Justice Department adviser Alina Habba a legal contract worth more than $50 million. The arrangement emerged from investigative reports detailing extensive political donations and lobbying efforts surrounding the clemency decision.
The sequence of events surrounding the presidential clemency centers on a sprawling federal corruption case and a lucrative private sector contract. Federal prosecutors had indicted Herrera Velutini in August 2022 in connection with an alleged scheme to finance the 2020 reelection campaign of former Puerto Rico Wanda Vázquez Garced in exchange for removing a banking regulator who was examining his financial institution, according to court documents and reporting by Law Commentary.
The Plea Agreement and the Clemency Push
Facing federal program bribery and wire fraud charges, Herrera Velutini reached a plea agreement in August 2025 that reduced his legal exposure to a misdemeanor campaign finance offense. Yet he felt that reduced charge was still a stain on his record,
according to Times reporter Tyler Pager, prompting his legal team to pursue a presidential pardon. To press for clemency, the family engaged Christopher Kise, a former Florida solicitor general and member of Trump’s personal legal team, alongside lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which collected $600,000 for work involving Bancrédito Holding Corporation in late 2025.
Concurrently, family members contributed heavily to political committees supporting Trump. Isabela Herrera, the banker’s 27-year-old daughter, donated $3.5 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC between December 2024 and July 2025. Later in September 2025, she pledged an additional $2.5 million toward the White House ballroom project championed by Trump, according to internal fundraising documents obtained by MundoNOW. Campaign watchdogs subsequently asked federal regulators to investigate whether those political contributions had been funneled through an intermediary to mask the true source of the funds.
The $50 Million Agreement with Alina Habba
As the push for a pardon continued through the fall of 2025, the Herrera family established a Florida-registered corporate entity named Concord Partners and offered a high-value legal position to Alina Habba, who had previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer and was working as a senior adviser at the Justice Department.
They offered her $10 million a year for four years along with a range of bonuses. In total, including bonuses, she was guaranteed more than $50 million over four years, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.
Justice Department Ethics Review and Formal Pardons
Habba maintained special government employee status while advising Attorney General Pam Bondi, a classification allowing limited outside employment subject to conflict-of-interest rules. She stated that her private sector contract had been fully disclosed to and vetted by the Justice Department.
Any insinuation 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,
Habba said in a statement reported by Mediaite, while declining to detail her day-to-day duties at the firm. White House and Justice Department representatives maintained that Habba had no involvement in the clemency process and that the pardons followed standard review procedures.
On January 15, 2026, President Trump issued an initial pardon to Herrera Velutini, followed by an amended clemency order five days later. Former Governor Wanda Vázquez and a former FBI consultant charged in the same corruption prosecution received pardons at the same time. Following the executive action, Herrera Velutini’s legal representation stated that his client was deeply grateful
to the president for the decision.