Alan Gross, the contractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail, will receive $3.2m from the US government as part of a settlement with his employer, the USAid agency announced on Tuesday.

Gross was employed by Maryland-based company DAI as part of a USAid-financed project in Cuba. DAI had sought $7m for Gross, said a USAid spokesman.

“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.

DAI spokesman Steven O’Connor said the company was “delighted to have Alan home and pleased to have this legal matter settled”.

Gross had been jailed in Cuba since December 2009 until his release last week as the governments of the United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations and swapped prisoners.

His detention was a major obstacle to improvement in US-Cuban relations after more than 50 years of hostility.

The settlement calls for payment by USAid for unanticipated claims under a cost-reimbursement contract, including claims related to Gross, USAid said in its statement.

Gross was sentenced to 15 years sentence for providing satellite internet equipment to Jewish Cubans under a US program that Cuba views as subversive. Information is tightly controlled on the Caribbean island, internet use is limited and visitors are not allowed to carry satellite technology.

The United States says Gross was merely helping Cubans get connected as part of a democracy-building project.

http://www.theguardian.com/