Alina Habba Mildon faces potential professional discipline in New Jersey after the state’s attorney ethics office filed a complaint against the lawyer known for representing President Donald Trump. The complaint says she admitted violating professional conduct rules.

The allegations arise from Mildon’s involvement in settling a sexual harassment employment dispute between Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and a woman who worked there as a server in 2021, when she was 21.

Mildon did not represent Trump at the time and did not formally represent either party in the dispute. According to the ethics office, that arrangement contributed to alleged violations involving conflicts of interest, third party neutrality and record keeping.

The complaint is one stage in a disciplinary process overseen by New Jersey’s highest court. Mildon will not necessarily receive any penalty, but possible outcomes range from a warning to disbarment.

Other Trump aligned lawyers have faced sanctions, particularly over Trump’s failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden. John Eastman is appealing his California disbarment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The allegations against Mildon involve a separate episode at the Bedminster club. The ethics complaint says Alice Bianco was hired as a server during the spring of 2021 and later said that a manager began harassing her.

Bianco hired a lawyer to represent her against the club. According to the complaint, Mildon, who belonged to the club, persuaded Bianco to stop working with that attorney.

The filing said Bianco then relied entirely on Mildon, who convinced her to settle because perceived indiscretions from Bianco’s past could become public. The complaint portrayed Bianco as unfamiliar with the law and lacking meaningful support and experience.

Mildon arranged a $15,000 settlement, which was $5,000 more than Bianco had sought. The agreement also required Bianco to sign a nondisclosure agreement, which the complaint said is illegal under New Jersey law.

Trump formally retained Mildon less than one month after the settlement. Bianco later hired another lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, and filed a lawsuit alleging that Mildon fraudulently induced her to sign the agreement.

The club and Mildon paid Bianco $400,000 to settle that lawsuit. Smith also filed a bar grievance against Mildon, leading to the investigation that produced Tuesday’s ethics complaint.

Kim Ringler, a lawyer for Mildon, told The New York Times that the filing was “the first step in a long process” and expressed hope for “a fair and proportionate result.” The disciplinary process is expected to include a hearing.

The complaint said Mildon acknowledged during a June interview that her conduct violated rules concerning conflicts of interest and neutrality. It did not provide details about her statements, leaving the scope of that purported admission to be explored as the proceedings continue.

State ethics officials also faulted Mildon for failing to disclose in writing that she had a financial relationship with the golf club and a personal interest in maintaining her membership. The complaint accused her of having “demonstrably divided loyalties.”

The office declined to pursue other allegations included in Smith’s grievance. It said it could not prove to the required clear and convincing evidence standard that Mildon committed additional ethics violations through media comments during later, unrelated Trump litigation.

The ethics office also said there was insufficient proof that Mildon acted under a secret agreement with Trump individually or with the Trump Organization. Still, it expressed “significant concerns as to the veracity of” Mildon’s account.

Those concerns followed a 2023 letter from a lawyer claiming Trump had asked Mildon to handle an internal employee dispute for the club. Mildon disavowed that statement three years later and attributed it to another lawyer’s error, an explanation the complaint said still reflected “a cavalier attitude toward the disciplinary process.”

The complaint is unrelated to rulings that Mildon served unlawfully as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor during Trump’s second term. Separately, Trump and Mildon are asking the Supreme Court to review an appeals court ruling approving almost $1 million in sanctions against them over legal claims the court called frivolous.