In their 1980 book "Death in Washington", authors Donald Freed and Fred Landis charged that the CIA was involved in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier. The authors specifically named Phillips as being involved in a cover-up of the assassination and reiterated Fonzi's claim that Phillips served as Oswald's case officer while using the alias "Maurice Bishop". In 1982, Freed, Landis, and their publisher were named in a $230 million libel suit by Phillips and the AFIO. A settlement was reached in 1976 with Phillips receiving a retraction and an unspecified amount of money. Phillips donated these proceeds to AFIO for the purpose of creating a legal defense fund for American intelligence officers who felt they were the victims of libel.