(JTA) — Alan Gross, the American-Jewish contractor imprisoned in Cuba since 2009, settled a lawsuit with a contractor for the U.S. government.
Gross and his wife, Judy, settled with Development Alternatives Inc., a Maryland-based contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to a notice issued at the end of last week. The notice did not disclose the settlement amount.
The Grosses in November filed a $60 million lawsuit charging that Alan Gross should have been better trained and informed of the risks before going to Cuba to set up Internet access for the Jewish community there.
Gross, 64, was arrested in December 2009 as he was leaving Cuba for “crimes against the state.” He spoke virtually no Spanish and traveled to Cuba five times under his own name before his arrest.
Gross’ family and U.S. State Department officials say that Gross was in Cuba on a U.S. Agency for International Development contract to help the country’s 1,500 Jews communicate with other Jewish communities using the Internet.
The main Jewish groups in Cuba have denied any contact with or knowledge of Gross or the program.
