It did get paid, though. Just took longer than usual because it was the first year MLS teams were in the scheme and their federation were trying to claim they were Tier 4 for the purposes of compensation pay outs. So it had to go through all the UEFA and FIFA bureaucracy until it was settled.
In the end, when Cadden signed for Hibs, the fee had to be paid before he got his clearance.
'Flow talked about this on a couple of occasions including confirming that it was paid.
Also, anybody who gives a footballer any credit for the brains to come up with a scheme like that hasn't met many footballers.