Freed Gross gets $3.2m settlement

A former US subcontractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail will receive $3.2 million from the federal government as part of a settlement with the Maryland-based company that employed him at the time of his arrest.

Alan Gross, who was arrested in 2009, was freed on Dec 17 as the United States announced it would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba after more than half a century. He had been working in Cuba to set up Internet access without permission from the authorities and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The US Agency for International Development said on Tuesday that an agreement reached in principle last month with Development Alternatives of Bethesda, Maryland, had been made final this week. A spokesman for USAID said Gross would be paid $3.2 million.

USAID said that the agreement would resolve claims pending before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals for unanticipated claims under a cost-reimbursement contract, including claims related to Gross. The USAID spokesman, who requested anonymity, said Development Alternatives had sought $7 million. Development Alternatives did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

USAID said the settlement "avoids the cost, delay and risks of further proceedings, and does not constitute an admission of liability by either party".

In November a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a suit filed against the US government by Gross and his wife. They had sued for negligence, arguing that the government sent him into a situation it knew was dangerous. Federal courts said the government was immune from any claim arising in a foreign country.

(China Daily 12/25/2014 page10)