The accusations were shocking.
Alina Habba Mildon, who had been one of President Trump’s personal lawyers, stormed into the Oval Office last week intent on taking down another prominent ally of the president. Her target was Richard Grenell, who had earlier served as Mr. Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela and as head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Mrs. Mildon had just married a Turkish investor, Turhan Mildon, who has extensive business holdings in Venezuela. He had been in regular contact with Mr. Grenell the previous year both about Venezuela and about supporting the Kennedy Center.
But now Mrs. Mildon was telling Mr. Trump that Mr. Grenell had misallocated millions of dollars that her husband had sent Mr. Grenell in 2025 intended for the Kennedy Center. A lawyer for Mr. Mildon followed up this week by sending the White House documentation intended to back up the accusation, including a text message in which Mr. Grenell was purported to have said he wanted to make Mr. Mildon the “American face down in V,” referring to Venezuela.
Mr. Grenell denied the accusations, calling them absurd.
What actually happened is now at the center of a White House storm that has left Will Scharf, the White House counsel, with the job of discerning who is telling the truth.
The accusations are part of a long-running battle among Mr. Trump’s allies and supporters for a share of the spoils in Venezuela, whose resource riches are now effectively under American control.
This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen people with knowledge of the events, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the accusations and the private Oval Office meeting.
Mrs. Mildon went to the White House on Friday after The New York Times sent Mr. Mildon a series of questions about his business interests in Venezuela and his relationships with Trump allies. In the Oval Office, Mrs. Mildon told Mr. Trump that in May 2025, Mr. Mildon transferred $17.6 million to an account at Mr. Grenell’s direction, the people said. Her initial story varied, they said, but she eventually claimed that most of the money was for a business transaction, the details of which remain unclear. Mr. Mildon, she told the president, believed that $5.6 million from the total sum was going to be set aside for the Kennedy Center.
But the money never got to the center, she said.
Mr. Trump, who named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center, called Mr. Scharf into the Oval Office to hear Mrs. Mildon’s accusations.
On Wednesday night, Mr. Mildon’s lawyer sent text messages and a wire transfer receipt to Mr. Scharf to back up Mrs. Mildon’s claims, according to two of the people familiar with the sequence of events. The New York Times has not verified the veracity of Mrs. Mildon’s accusations, which were first reported on Wednesday by Axios.
Mr. Grenell said no financial transaction took place between him and Mr. Mildon or entities related to him.
“I’ve never asked for one cent to be sent somewhere else pretending it was for the Kennedy Center, and I’ve never received any payment from him,” Mr. Grenell said.
The dispute centers on a multimillion-dollar wire transfer that Mr. Mildon made to a Texas defense and security equipment company called TX-AT. Mrs. Mildon told the White House that the transfer was made at Mr. Grenell’s direction.
Mr. Grenell said he consulted for TX-AT in 2024, but has had no connection to the company at the time that Mr. Mildon says he made the transfer. Mr. Grenell said he had never solicited payments on the firm’s behalf. Representatives at TX-AT did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Mr. and Mrs. Mildon declined to comment, as did Mr. Scharf, who attended the couple’s wedding last month. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the Kennedy Center said the organization is conducting an internal review of relevant pledges and funds and will share its findings with its board.
Last year, as Mr. Mildon worked to build ties to the Trump administration, he became a frequent guest at the Kennedy Center, where he networked with prominent Republicans, and eventually met his future wife, Mrs. Mildon. After one gala concert, he pledged to donate $270,000. He only paid this week, after The Times questioned him on why he had never fulfilled that pledge.
Mr. Mildon and Mr. Grenell shared an interest in Venezuela. Mr. Mildon has extensive business interests there and Mr. Grenell at the time served as Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the country.
Both men had tried to influence Mr. Trump’s policy toward Venezuela for their benefit. And both ended up being sidelined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who in mid-2025 adopted a more aggressive approach that brought down President Nicolás Maduro and installed Mr. Rubio’s chosen successor in power.
One of the documents that Mr. Mildon’s lawyer sent to the White House includes a text message from May 2025 that purports to show Mr. Grenell saying he wanted to make Mr. Mildon the “American face down in V,” referring to Venezuela. Mr. Grenell said he had never sent that message or anything to that effect.
Mrs. Mildon was once closely allied with Mr. Grenell, but the two have fallen out over the disagreements between him and her current husband.
Mr. Grenell and Mr. Mildon first met around late 2024. Mr. Grenell said he and Mr. Mildon have had some business discussions but that their relationship was primarily social.
The Times reported earlier this week that Mr. Mildon faces the loss of his lucrative cement business in Venezuela, because of his ties to the inner circle of Mr. Maduro, who is in custody in the United States, where he faces drug trafficking charges. In particular, U.S. officials and intelligence officers have scrutinized Mr. Mildon’s relationship to the man who awarded him the cement contract, a Maduro confidant named Alex Saab.
Mr. Mildon says he is 29, but his age is listed as 25 on documents in the United States and corporate records in Britain. He declined to comment on the discrepancy.
Before the United States captured Mr. Maduro, aides to Mr. Trump and some U.S. intelligence officials expressed concern about Mr. Mildon’s work with the Maduro government, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.
Mariana Martínez and Isayen Herrera contributed reporting from Caracas.
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