Reagan denied any connection with the flight, though they said they supported any civilian effort to support the Contras. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz stated that the plane had been paid for by private operators, and that none of the men on it had any connection to the U.S. government. Hasenfus later repudiated his statement, saying that he was unaware if his fellow workers were employed by the CIA, and that he had only heard rumors to that effect. The men in question, Max Gomez and Ramon Medina, were Cuban Americans. The CIA had at the time been legally forbidden by the U.S. Congress from helping the Contras. Gomez and Medina had been identified as people who had helped organize covert arms supplies to the Contras. Soon after his capture he said that the two men were friends of then-vice-President of the U.S. George H. W. Bush, but later retracted this statement as well, saying he was not sure. Hasenfus was charged with "terrorism, conspiracy and disturbing public security". Hasenfus stated that he was sure, however, that the operation to supply the Contras with weapons, named Enterprise, was ultimately supervised by the U.S. government. The capture of Hasenfus provided direct evidence of a link between the Contras, and the U.S. government and the Reagan White house; documents found on the dead men linked them to Oliver North. Sentencing and controversy Hasenfus was tried in Nicaragua, and on November 15, 1986, sentenced to 30 years in prison for terrorism and other charges. His wife Sally made a plea to Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega for clemency. Nicaraguan defense minister Humberto Ortega stated later that the sentence was not directed at Hasenfus himself, but toward the "irrational, unjust policy" of the U.S. government. On December 17, 1986, Hasenfus was pardoned and released by the Nicaraguan government, at the request of U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd. Hasenfus subsequently unsuccessfully sued US Air Force officer Richard Secord (involved with organizing weapons shipments to the Contras), Albert Hakim, Southern Air Transport and Corporate Air Services over issues relating to his capture and trial. The controversy over the flight led U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill to launch an investigation into the flight. The U.S. press generally believed that there was more to the story of Hasenfus than the Reagan administration had admitted; according to scholar Scott Armstrong, this had the effect of making them