The announcement in January was on January 17th, according to the article, that was the day after the hostages were released and the announcement stated that the money would be released, not that it had already been released. In fact, the money was delivered on the same day the hostages were released and before their release. Even the announcement in January was not quite the truth either. About on par with, if you like your health care plan you can keep it, or the terrorist attack was due to a stupid video.