Trump ally Alina Habba to marry Turkish businessman with Congo, Venezuela ties

Trump ally Alina Habba to marry Turkish businessman with Congo, Venezuela ties

Submitted by Ragip Soylu on Tue, 09/22/2026 - 20:24 Turhan Mildon, whose business interests span construction, mining and cement across emerging markets, has a history of relationships with women from politically connected families Alina Habba and Turhan Mildon are set to marry later this week (Screengrab/official portrait/MEE) Off

Former President Donald Trump counsellor Alina Habba is set to marry Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon later this week, bringing together a prominent figure from the president's inner circle and a relatively little-known businessman whose companies have secured major projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and expanded into Venezuela.

Habba, who represented Trump in several legal cases between 2021 and 2024, is regarded as close to the president.

Trump appointed Habba, 42, as acting US attorney for the District of New Jersey last year but a court subsequently ruled her appointment unlawful, leading to her resignation in December.

While Habba is well known in the US, her husband-to-be, Mildon, 29, has largely stayed out of the public eye in Turkey, rarely appearing in the media or giving interviews.

The CEO of the Turkey-based Miller Holding, and a third-generation member of the family business, coverage of his commercial activities has also been limited, apart from reports on construction contracts his companies have secured in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speaking to Middle East Eye, Mildon said he had avoided public attention because he preferred to keep his life private.

His businesses, he added, did not deal directly with consumers and therefore did not require him to maintain a public profile.

He said he met Habba some time ago through a mutual friend who is an ambassador in the US. The introduction eventually led to their relationship, and he confirmed that their wedding would take place later this week.

Mildon was previously married to Betul Gursoy, the daughter of the late owner of Gursoy Group, which built Istanbul's Camlica Mosque, a major project personally commissioned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The couple divorced in late 2024.

He later dated the daughter of Remigio Ceballos, a well-connected Venezuelan admiral who is now the country’s ambassador to China.

Ceballos was close to former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, serving as interior minister and, before that, as a senior military commander and aide-de-camp.

Billion-dollar projects in Congo

Mildon's business interests span several sectors and extend well outside Turkey and its surrounding region.

Since 2021, his company Milvest has secured construction contracts worth around $1bn in Congo. It has also expanded into mining, which Mildon said had brought hundreds of millions of dollars in direct investment into the country.

Mildon previously told the media that Erdogan personally introduced him to Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi during the latter’s official visit to Turkey. Tshisekedi then invited him to Kinshasa in 2021, when the investment climate was challenging.

"People didn't dare to invest in Congo, so we have taken certain risks," he told MEE.

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But some of Milvest's projects have drawn scrutiny. These include the Kinshasa Financial Centre, described as the largest in Africa, for which the company secured a contract in 2021, and a sports complex known as the Arena.

Both became controversial last year after local reports alleged that former Congolese Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi had mismanaged funds during construction.

Mildon said neither he nor his company had received any formal inquiry from the government to date. He added that the financial centre was completed in December 2023, after 21 months of construction.

During work on the Arena, which will be the largest indoor sports facility in Africa when finished, however, his company was accused of improperly obtaining import exemptions for construction materials. Mildon said the dispute delayed the project by eight months and caused millions of dollars in losses. He denied any wrongdoing.

In a recent interview with local media, Kazadi also denied wrongdoing in either project. He said their combined cost was only $400m and was reasonable, if not below initial estimates.

"We continue to operate in Congo without any issue," Mildon said, confirming that his company had won a contract earlier this year to build a "drone base" in Kisangani, reportedly worth $67m.

Mildon said his company did not operate in the defence sector. Its role, he explained, was limited to building a runway, a control tower and hangars as required by the contract. The work was completed a few months ago, he added.

MEE reached out to Kazadi for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.

From Congo to Venezuela

Mildon's next venture took him into an even riskier market: Venezuela. He said he decided to invest there after a visit left him impressed by its people, landscape and food.

Lawyers advised him to avoid sectors such as oil, rare minerals and chemicals due to US sanctions, he said. He ultimately chose cement.

Through his company Vancement, Mildon said, he reached a profit-sharing agreement with the Venezuelan government last year to revive 10 cement factories that had been taken over by the state in the early 2000s and were producing less than expected.

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He said the arrangement had allowed him to operate without facing punitive action from the US government.

The agreement followed extensive negotiations with the state-controlled Corporacion Socialista del Cemento (CSC) and discussions with the Ministry of Industries and National Production, including its then-minister, Alex Saab, a Maduro ally.

However, claims have circulated that Vancement, despite being profitable, has failed to pay some contractors. The sums allegedly owed are disputed, with some estimates running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mildon denied owing money to any contractor or other party, saying such disputes often arose from local business practices. In one instance, he said, a business had tried to collect money from Vancement that was actually owed by one of its contractors.

A more public controversy emerged in June, when Venezuela’s National Assembly president, Jorge Rodriguez, said he would summon representatives of Turkish-linked cement companies to explain why bags of cement were selling for between $32 and $37.

Rodriguez is the brother of Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.

Mildon said his general manager met Rodriguez and explained that resale markups were driving up retail prices, while the government itself set the prices charged by producers.

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"The cement prices are different all over the country and even though we sell each bag for three to five dollars, people resell them up to 20-30 dollars," he said.

"We asked government to create a task force to control the market to lower the prices but didn’t see any concrete movement yet."

While Mildon manages his businesses in Venezuela, Habba may be eyeing a new role in the Trump administration.

She told the media last month that she would accept the job of White House press secretary following Karoline Leavitt’s exit if the president asked her.

Their marriage is likely to draw scrutiny of the couple’s political connections and future ambitions. Mildon, however, rejects any suggestion that the union has a political purpose.

"This marriage has no political motivation," he said.

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