Richard Grenell, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, allegedly offered a Turkish billionaire access to the US president, VIP events and government officials in exchange for money last year, according to a text message reviewed by Axios that is being investigated by the White House Counsel’s Office.

“Once the money hits the company here, I will arrange the donation to the Kennedy Centre and you will be part of VIP events and have close relationships with the administration, even the president,” the message dated 3 May 2025 states.

Grenell has described the allegations as “lies” and denies sending the message.

Government officials say the message is key evidence in an investigation ordered by President Trump and being conducted by the White House. The inquiry seeks to establish whether Grenell abused the president’s trust and misappropriated money intended for a multimillion-dollar donation to the Kennedy Center, which he was then leading.

Grenell was simultaneously serving in another position appointed by Trump, as special envoy to Venezuela, where Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon also held contracts. “We need to make you the ‘American face’ down there in Venezuela,” Grenell allegedly wrote to Mildon in the same 2025 message.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, the businessman’s lawyers sent the message, at least one financial document and other correspondence to the White House Counsel’s Office. Mildon is married to another Trump adviser, Alina Habba, a former federal prosecutor in New Jersey. On 9 October, Habba “stormed” into the Oval Office and accused Grenell of defrauding her husband by persuading him to make a donation to the Kennedy Center that never reached its intended destination, Axios reports.

Another transaction under scrutiny

According to information Habba and Mildon’s lawyers have provided to the White House, the alleged scheme centres on a financial transaction involving software for a private defence company based in Houston and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mildon claims that, on Grenell’s instructions, he transferred $17.6 million to Texas Armament & Technology. He says the money was to be divided into roughly two portions, one for the deal with the Congo and nearly $6 million for the Kennedy Center.

To support his claims, Mildon submitted the 2025 message, which referred to the donation to the Kennedy Center and “software” related to the Congo. In the message to Mildon, the sender also wrote: “An email has been sent to you, can you please take a look at it for me?”

According to the sources, that email was also handed over to the White House, along with a transaction document dated 29 May 2025 showing that $17.6 million had been transferred to the company, known by the initials TXAT.

It would be 17 months before Mildon learned that the Kennedy Center had never received the money he believed was included in the transfer he had sent on Grenell’s instructions, Habba told the president.

The unanswered questions

At this point, the case becomes murky. It is unclear what the contract with the Congo involved, how it was connected to the Kennedy Center or what the precise financial terms were. The message mentions no monetary amounts, either for TXAT or for the Kennedy Center.

However, a source familiar with the case said other correspondence submitted to the White House contained specific financial details.

Furthermore, the money transferred to TXAT does not appear to have come from Mildon’s bank account, as Habba initially suggested to Trump. Instead, according to a White House official, the $17.6 million was transferred to TXAT by the Congolese finance ministry in the capital, Kinshasa, where Mildon has business interests and access to financial resources.

A representative for Mildon declined to comment. Representatives of TXAT and the Congolese government could not be reached for comment.

“We are trying to determine whose money this is,” the official said.

Figures that kept changing

Further complicating the case, the amounts cited by Habba repeatedly changed after she initially informed Trump of the alleged theft of the Kennedy Center’s money.

She initially said the donation to the Kennedy Center amounted to $17 million. Then, after speaking to Mildon, she said the sum was approximately $6 million.

The exact amount appears to be $5.6 million.

Grenell’s response

Grenell, who declined to comment for this report, had previously described the allegations against him as “absurd” in comments to Axios.

“I never asked for a single cent to be sent anywhere else under the guise of it being for the Kennedy Center, and I have never received any payment from him,” he said. “Ask him to provide proof of what he is saying instead of making these absurd accusations.”

When informed of the exact wording of the message, Grenell categorically denied sending it, citing the fact that the word “center” had been spelt using the British spelling, “centre”, according to a source familiar with his reasoning.

Grenell’s allies have also raised questions about Mildon’s business background, his associates, his age — he is 29, although some records list him as 25 — and his $10 million wedding last month to 42-year-old Habba.

The couple began dating last year.

The falling-out

While The New York Times was investigating Mildon’s activities in Venezuela, the businessman fell out with Grenell, with whom he had maintained a friendly relationship since 2024.

Mildon met Habba at the Kennedy Center in 2025.

Inside the Oval Office

When Habba arrived at the White House on 9 October, she was “quite upset”, according to a government official, and at one point exclaimed: “Rick stole the money!”

The problem, however, was that Habba “had not properly gathered all her evidence. She went in there unprepared, without knowing all the facts, shouting that Grenell had stolen. And the facts keep changing,” the source said.

“That does not mean Rick is in the clear. The case looks very suspicious.”

After Habba made her allegations, Trump summoned White House Counsel Will Scharf to the Oval Office and asked him to investigate her claims, according to the sources.

Trump and Scharf then called Grenell, who denied everything and said that, if there had been a prospect of a $17 million donation, he would have immediately informed everyone concerned.

“There is no way this is true. It is crazy,” Grenell told Trump at one point, according to a source briefed on the conversation.

Behind the investigation

According to a source, Scharf began treating Habba’s allegations with scepticism early last week because she and Mildon’s lawyers initially delayed providing documents that would assist his investigation.

The documents were submitted on Friday.

Scharf is continuing to gather evidence and plans to examine the digital metadata and provenance of the 2025 message, the source said. The source also noted that a printout of the message displays the same photograph of Grenell as the one on his contact card on a mobile phone.

People inside the Kennedy Center also contacted the White House and said they had frequently seen Mildon at restricted-access events at the venue, creating the impression that he was a major donor.

According to a source, he had appeared, among other places, in the vice-president’s box, next to the president’s box.

“This is where Alina may be telling the truth: Mildon did indeed gain access.

“So why was he given that access? Was he doing business in the Congo with Rick? Why did he have such extensive access if the donation was never made?” one government official asked.

“There are a lot of questions. And the president wants answers.”