(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Fresh off her appearance at the RNC, the former president’s lawyer Alina Habba got some good(?) news about her own legal troubles. Yesterday NOTUS’s Jose Pagliery reported that Habba had settled with Alice Bianco, a former waitress at Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club.
The confidential settlement arose out of an extremely ugly episode where the then-21-year-old server was repeatedly coerced into sex with her supervisor, a situation she alleges was known to the management, which took no action. In November, Bianco sued the club, alleging that Habba had first convinced her to fire her lawyer, and then hoodwinked her into accepting a paltry $15,000 settlement. The document included a non-disclosure clause which was void as a matter of New Jersey’s Civil Rights law, particularly a liquidated damages provision which would have fined Bianco $1,000 every time she spoke about the underlying events.
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When she negotiated and drafted the deal, Habba was not officially Trump’s lawyer. But almost immediately after, she was hired to represent him in multiple civil suits, including the E. Jean Carroll defamation cases, the New York civil fraud trial, and the RICO LOLsuit in Florida against Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and half the Democrats in DC.
If Trump is pissed about Habba steering him into half a billion in judgments, plus a million dollars in sanctions for which they’re jointly liable, he hasn’t showed it. But when the club settled the complaint in March, it explicitly did not release the lawyer from liability. That settlement merely voided the original hush money agreement, while allowing Bianco to keep the measly $15,000. She was free to pursue claims against the club and Habba, with the organization signaling that it was not taking responsibility for Habba’s conduct in the matter.
It’s not clear where negotiations stand with the club, but, according to NOTUS, Bianco and Habba have come to a monetary settlement. Whether that settlement is coming out of Trump’s PAC, which pays legal bills for favored lackeys, or her D&O policy is unclear and likely to remain so — Habba’s firm has already received millions in legal fees from the PAC, and Trump’s campaign routinely hides expenditures by routing them through a third-party processor known as Red Curve.
Nor is it clear whether this will settle the matter with the New Jersey Office for Attorney Ethics (OAE). The original complaint requested that Judge Joseph Rea refer Habba to the OAE for “fraudulently induc[ing] Ms. Bianco to give up her rights and to enter into a settlement which is illegal and unconscionable.” In a handwritten note on a show cause order, Judge Rea wrote, “If this court receives reliable information indicating a substantial likelihood that a lawyer has committed a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct or gains knowledge that raises a substantial question as to the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, then the court will take appropriate action in accord w/ R. 3.15(b) of the Code of Judicial Conduct.”
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That was nine months ago, and ongoing attorney ethics investigations are sealed. But perhaps the outcome of any ethics referral is immaterial, since Habba’s “real” job now is as a Trump surrogate, flogging lies about election fraud and wooing Arab voters in Michigan. Disbarment would make her a martyr and free her up for even more Fox hits.
When you’re a star, they let you do it!
Trump Lawyer Alina Habba Quietly Settles With Ex-Bedminster Waitress Involved In Hush Money Deal [NOTUS]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.