Fairly certain you can't order a subordinate to suddenly shoulder the cost when a sponsor pulls back. That seems extremely against any and all employment laws.
Also fairly certain that as a sponsor, you can't just suddenly say "nah, nvm, I'm not going to pay that stuff I signed an agreement to pay, after all." Particularly as somehow it sounds like they have already paid the sum, and is trying to retroactively claw back the money from the one they gave it to - after they already spent it on what they agreed to sponsor, no less!