This is interesting. I’m guessing it was Tedd’s success with the project that ended up with him allowed to keep his access. I really doubt that “technically I brought the tech back, the second unit is his” would fly. Either that or the reason we’ve never seen Conan Sr. (let’s see if I can make that stick) before is that Edward’s connections proved more potent than this guy expected… and he was never heard from again.
Could be that Assistant Director Liefeld either gets a talking-to by the turtle God, or Edward himself manages to make a case for Tedd’s Oppenheimer-level genius and talent, or even Arthur makes a case to the Assistant Director to convince him?