Yeah, the team was probably disappeared and given a posh "retirement" setup in exchange for playing dead. And that's what his reference to a golden ticket is alluding to.

Based on what he says, it seems like they had their memories wiped too.

Why not kill them for real? Ethics is actually important for stuff like this. If you have a large organization, it would destroy morale if people knew that they themselves might get deleted after their own covert mission. Much better if everyone believes the organization will reward duty served.