Alan Gross, the contractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail, will receive $3.2million from the US government as part of a compensation package, it was announced yesterday.
Gross was arrested in Cuba in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for importing banned technology and trying to establish clandestine Internet service for Cuban Jews.
Yesterday the US Agency for International Development (USAID) claimed it had reached the settlement with his former employer DAI – which said it was ‘delighted to have Alan home and pleased to have this legal matter settled’.
‘Our understanding is that the money will go to Alan Gross as part of an agreement between the two parties,’ the USAID spokesman said. The money would be paid in the next few days, he added.
During five trips to Cuba in 2009, Gross imported banned satellite communications devices and other high-tech gear in his luggage and helped install it at Jewish centers in Havana, Santiago and Camaguey.
The United States says Gross was merely helping Cubans get connected as part of a democracy-building project.
Initially accused of espionage, he was put on trial by Havana in 2011 and convicted of committing ‘acts against the independence and territorial integrity’ of Cuba.
The settlement was finalized on Monday.
‘The settlement avoids the cost, delay and risks of further proceedings, and does not constitute an admission of liability by either party,’ USAID said in a statement.
At the time of his arrest, Gross was allegedly in possession of an electronic chip that prevents the location of satellite telephone calls to be traced.
A specialist in satellite communications, he visited Cuba several times, delivering computer and satellite gear to the island nation’s small Jewish community.
Gross and his wife Judy filed a $60 million lawsuit in November 2012 for gross negligence against DAI and the U.S. government.
He settled with DAI for undisclosed terms in May 2013, and a US district court rejected his claim against the government, which was upheld last month on appeal.
A lawyer for Gross declined to discuss the settlement but added that it was planning to seek a review by the Supreme Court of its case against the U.S. government.
Gross was employed by Bethesda, Maryland-based DAI as part of a USAID financed project.