Ex-Trump Golf Club Employee Accuses Alina Habba of Pressuring Her Into ‘Illegal’ Sexual Harassment Settlement

AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez.

A former employee of Trump National Golf Club Bedminster filed a complaint on Wednesday against the club for “unethical, fraudulent actions by Trump lawyer Alina Habba,” accusing Habba of deploying misleading tactics to pressure her into signing an “illegal and unconscionable” settlement agreement after she was allegedly sexually harassed by her boss at the club owned by former President Donald Trump.

Alice “Ali” Bianco, who is represented by Nancy Erika Smith, claims that in 2021, when she was 21 years old, she was sexually harassed and coerced into performing sexual acts with Pavel Melichar, the club’s food and beverage manager.

According to the complaint, Bianco engaged in a quid pro quo with Melichar in order to sustain her employment, however, when she later rejected his alleged sexual advances he retaliated against her giving her “unfair job assignments and allowing his henchmen to abuse her and steal her tips.” Bianco also alleges that Melichar showed her videos of Trump “praising” him, “so that she knew that he was powerful” and to intimidate her into compliance.

Another female employee told Bianco she was going to write a letter for Trump’s personal staff about the toxic workplace culture under Melichar. The letter dated on July 21, 2021 provided in the complaint reads in part,  “A few of my major concerns are that as a result of poor managing from higher management, there has been multiple occurrences of sexual harassment from Pavel Melichar, as well as this has become a hostile work environment. Pavel has forced a female server to perform sexual actions with him, and covering it up by stating that he was protecting her, while paying her and giving her gifts to remain silent.”

After the letter was sent, a human resources representative from Trump’s New York Organization contacted Bianco about an investigation into the matter, and she retained an employment attorney. Within days, according to the complaint, Habba began to contact Bianco and claim she was acting as a friend. The complaint alleges that Habba effectively worked to have Bianco fire her employment attorney and follow Habba’s recommendations.

“From July 28 through the early weeks of August, 2021, Ms. Habba pretended that she was Ms. Bianco’s friend, frequently calling and texting her, and stating that she only wanted to help. Habba repeatedly told Plaintiff that she was ‘neutral’ and that she was ‘just doing this to help two really good friends’ (Plaintiff and Donald Trump).’ Ms. Habba repeatedly focused on getting Plaintiff to sign an NDA” (non-disclosure agreement).”

Bianco alleges that she agreed to sign the settlement agreement that Habba’s law firm drafted, settling her claim for a “paltry payment” Habba claimed to have negotiated and agreeing to NDA language that threatened stiff financial penalties ($1,000 per day and forfeiture of the entire settlement amount) if she ever spoke to the media. The complaint quotes text messages from Habba and other comments she allegedly made to Bianco, pressuring her to quickly sign the agreement and discourage her from showing it to any other attorney.

The complaint then recalls Bianco’s shock and outrage when, a few weeks after signing the settlement agreement, she discovered that Habba was not a neutral friend but was actually serving as Trump’s attorney in some of his multiple legal cases.

One of the core arguments of Bianco’s complaint centers on how New Jersey passed a law in 2019 barring NDAs in cases involving workplace harassment, retaliation, or discrimination, which clearly applied to Bianco’s claims. Bianco accuses Habba of failing to inform her of this and pressuring her to sign an NDA that violated this law and failed to protect her rights.

As an attorney admitted to practice in New Jersey, Habba would have been ethically prohibited by the state bar association’s Rules of Professional Conduct from communicating with a person she knew to be represented by counsel, concealing her attorney-client relationship with Trump, engaging in legal representation that presented a conflict of interest, lying about the legality of an NDA, and misrepresenting the terms of the settlement agreement.

Bianco further accuses Habba of lying to make her believe the settlement proceeds would be tax-free, and when she contacted Habba later to sort out the tax issues, the attorney refused to help her, texting back “I can’t technically give u legal advice.”

The complaint spells out what this alleged betrayal meant to Bianco: “What Ms. Habba really meant by saying, ‘I can’t technically give u legal advice’ was that she was now done with Plaintiff. Habba didn’t need to text her heart emojis anymore, she had accomplished her goal of protecting Donald Trump and silencing Ms. Bianco.”

The complaint seeks to declare the settlement agreement (specifically including the NDA) void, have Habba and her law firm referred to the bar for ethics violations, and an award of attorneys’ fees and costs under the New Jersey law related to this type of discrimination claim.

Melichar and Habba did not respond to comment at the time of publication.

“I didn’t know my rights,” said Bianco in a statement provided to Mediaite. “I didn’t know Alina wasn’t supposed to discuss a case with me without my lawyer. I didn’t know New Jersey had banned non-disclosure agreements for victims of sexual harassment. All I knew was that the person claiming to be my friend and advisor threw me in the trash as soon as she pressured me into silence.”

“Ali has been silenced for over two years by this bogus, but terrifying agreement,” Bianco’s attorney Smith told Mediaite. “This is how good Trump’s world is at scaring and bullying. Even an illegal NDA has kept other lawyers from taking this case on. For a lawyer to prey upon someone at one of the scariest moments of their lives is not only unethical, it’s abhorrent.”

Disclosure: Diana Falzone was represented by Nancy Erika Smith in 2018.