The New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics filed a 137-page complaint Monday against Alina Habba. The filing accuses her of breaking the one-part rule. That is the rule that says a lawyer cannot represent both people in the same fight.
The core allegation comes from a Bedminster club case in 2021. An employee named Alice Bianco hired a lawyer to pursue claims of sexual harassment. Habba signed on to help her. At the same time, Habba was allegedly taking direction from the club.
The ethics complaint says Habba never told Bianco she was also serving the club. Habba had not yet entered national politics, the filing notes. But the arrangement soon placed her near the inner circle of TrumpleThinskin.
The dual representation, investigators wrote, was not a legal strategy. It was an audition. The former president later installed Habba as U.S. attorney after a judge ruled the appointment unlawful.
“She was not hired to be two lawyers,” said Paul Morelli, chief ethics administrator for the district. “We often hear about conflicts of interest. This is more like a conflict of gravity.”
The complaint does not seek criminal penalties. It asks a hearing board to suspend or revoke Habba’s law license. A separate review covers a $50 million consulting contract she signed with a Venezuelan businessman indicted for fraud.
The bar claims Habba helped the man receive a pardon while she worked as a special adviser at the Department of Justice. After the pardon discussions, a company called Concord Partners was formed. It named Habba general counsel at $10 million per year.
The company had no prior operations, according to the complaint. It paid Habba an $8 million signing bonus and $6.5 million in first-year salary. She kept $14.5 million after the arrangement ended.
Habba’s time as a special adviser overlapped with the pardon effort, the filing states. The position paid no salary. The bar said the later payment looked less like a job offer and more like a gratuity.
“When a law license becomes a concierge desk for pardons, the public is paying for the stamp,” Morelli said. “We are not sure this is what the bar exam intended.”
