BREAKING NEWS

US to grant Alan Gross $3.2 million in federal money

WASHINGTON -- Alan Gross, a Jewish American prisoner of Cuba for the last five years freed this month in an historic deal with the Obama administration, will receive $3.2 million from the US government.
The funds are part of a settlement between his former employer, Development Alternatives Inc., and the US over the government's possible negligence in sending Mr. Gross to work in a dangerous environment. Gross was a subcontractor for the company, sent to Cuba to set up Internet for a small Jewish community there in 2009.
The agreement avoids any admission of liability from either party, the US Agency for International Development said in a statement.
Gross was released on December 17, five years into a fifteen year prison term, as part of a major deal between Havana and Washington. The two governments will begin normalizing relations in the new year, US President Barack Obama announced that day, including the exchange of ambassadors and the opening of embassies.