Finally, the next day, the two sides reached a deal. The operators agreed to allow the Sofia to sail to Malta if the bankers paid $50,000. The bankers and Bono described the money as “extortion, pure and simple.” The operators, on the other hand, had their own description of the proposed sum: “an act of generosity” on their part. They argued that in light of the expensive delays they had endured due to the bankers’ “attempted piracy,” this money was a pittance of what they were truly owed.
