Advertisement

Freed from Cuban prison, Alan Gross to get $3.2 million settlement

He was imprisoned for five years.

By Ed Adamczyk
Alan Gross converses with President Barack Obama as he is returned to the United States on Dec. 17. L. Jackson/ White House/cc
Alan Gross converses with President Barack Obama as he is returned to the United States on Dec. 17. L. Jackson/ White House/cc

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Alan Gross, freed from imprisonment in Cuba last week, will receive a $3.2 million settlement from a U.S. government agency.

Gross, 65, was arrested in 2009 and accused of subversion for providing communications equipment to Cuba's Jewish population. He was working for a company contracted to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The U.S. government maintained he was helping Cubans access the Internet in a democracy-building effort.

Advertisement

He served five years of his 15-year sentence and was released last week as a humanitarian gesture, as part of a normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba.

The settlement, between USAID and Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), of Bethesda, Md., was announced Tuesday by USAID. It ends a claim by DAI of $7 million for unanticipated costs, currently under review by the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, and a $60 million lawsuit by Gross and his wife against the U.S. government and DAI. They settled with DAI for an undisclosed amount in 2013; their claim against the government was rejected by a U.S. district court.

Latest Headlines