Alina Habba, a close Trump ally and former White House counselor now serving as a senior adviser to the attorney general, is set to marry Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon on Saturday in New York, at a venue that hasn’t been disclosed, with Trump expected to attend. Mildon’s company holds roughly $1 billion in attributed Congo construction contracts since 2021, including a $67 million airfield package at Bangboka airport, which has come under at least two publicly confirmed drone attacks, in late January and early March, attributed by Congolese authorities and U.N. experts to Rwandan-backed forces. A separate deal ties his business to Venezuela’s state cement company, structured, by his own account, to sit outside U.S. sanctions.
Who Is Turhan Mildon?
Mildon, 29, is chief executive of Miller Holding, a third-generation family conglomerate in Turkey, and is widely described in press coverage as a billionaire, though no independently verified net-worth figure exists; the group’s own cited figure is roughly $3 billion in African contract volume across 17 countries by 2023, which is deal flow, not a personal balance sheet. This will be Habba’s third marriage. It is Mildon’s second: he was previously married to Betül Gürsoy, a marriage reported finalized in divorce in late 2024 or early 2025. The wedding is Saturday, Sept. 26, in New York, though the exact venue hasn’t been disclosed.
The Erdoğan Introduction and Congo’s $1 Billion
Middle East Eye reported, citing Mildon himself, that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally introduced him to Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, leading to a 2021 invitation to invest in the country. Since then, Mildon’s company Milvest has been awarded close to $1 billion in Congo construction contracts, by Mildon’s and Middle East Eye’s account rather than an audited government total. That includes the Kinshasa Financial Centre, inaugurated in December 2023 and described in company and Turkish press coverage, including Daily Sabah, as one of the largest finance-and-congress complexes on the continent, a project later reported at roughly $290 million, plus a planned arena in the capital.
An Airfield Contract at an Attacked Air Base
In March 2026, Africa Intelligence reported that Milvest had been awarded a roughly $67 million contract at Kisangani’s Bangboka airport (also spelled Bangoka in some Western wire copy), which sits about 12 to 17 kilometers from the city center. That report date is when the contract became public, not a confirmed signing date. Africa Intelligence characterized the project as a drone-launch base, while Mildon, in the Middle East Eye interview, described the scope as a runway, a control tower and hangars and said his company does not operate in the defense sector. Both descriptions are on the record, and neither side has produced documentation settling which is more accurate.
The airport was already a militarized site before Milvest’s contract became public. Congolese authorities said their forces intercepted eight kamikaze drones near Bangboka on Jan. 31, 2026, an attack Reuters independently confirmed, attributed by Congolese authorities and U.N. experts to Rwandan-backed M23 and AFC forces, a characterization Kigali denies, and described as an attempt to undermine a Washington-brokered peace process capped by a December 2025 signing. A U.N. report also records a wave of activity in early February, and a further attack on the airport was reported around March 2, 2026, close to when the Milvest contract became public; the January and March incidents are the two best-documented in public reporting, not necessarily the only ones. After Goma fell to M23 earlier in the war, Kisangani became Congo’s main rear base for military jets and drones, which is the function these attacks were aimed at disrupting. Nothing publicly reported ties Milvest’s airfield contract to a military operation, and the company disputes that characterization. What is documented is that the contract sits inside an already active military aviation node, not that Milvest created one.
The Mukilango Allegations
Separately, Milvest and former Congo finance minister Nicolas Kazadi face allegations, first reported by Congo’s financial press, over a contract to build 1,000 homes for families displaced by the December 2022 Matadi-Kibala floods. AfricaNews RDC’s original reporting put the award at roughly $43 million over a seven-month timeline, alleged it was made by direct award rather than open procurement, and said only about 20 percent of the work had been completed two years in, with Congo’s finance ministry withholding further funds. Later Congolese reporting describes contract amendments raising the figure toward roughly $57 million, alongside claims that disbursement has run far ahead of physical progress, in some accounts 80 to 94 percent paid against work reported anywhere from the teens to high 20s percent complete, with some accounts describing few or no houses actually delivered. Those later figures come from separate local reporting and a presidential compliance review, not the same finance-ministry hold cited in the original story, and no court has issued a final finding. Kazadi has denied wrongdoing. Some Congolese outlets covering this story use openly hostile language toward Milvest, so the procurement figures themselves, rather than the commentary around them, are what’s treated as fact here.
Venezuela, and a Deal Built Around Sanctions
Mildon’s company Vencement has also negotiated a profit-sharing deal with Venezuela’s state-run cement corporation to operate previously idle factories. By his own account, relayed by Middle East Eye, his lawyers steered him away from oil, rare minerals and chemicals because of U.S. sanctions exposure, and cement was the result. That is his account of the legal reasoning, not a legal determination that the structure is clear of sanctions risk; counterparties and ownership stakes can still create exposure regardless of the commodity involved. Separate allegations of unpaid contractors on that project have also surfaced, which Mildon disputes.