After the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced its Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative in October 2021, many in the False Claims Act (“FCA”) bar expected an onslaught of enforcement actions and qui tam cases. The initiative started off slow in 2022, with the government announcing only two cybersecurity-related settlements (we covered one of those settlements in our February 2023 edition of EnforceMintz, and you can find more information about the second settlement here). But in 2023 we started to see an uptick in activity: two cybersecurity-related FCA settlements, an unsealed qui tam complaint, and significant regulatory activity that could pose future enforcement risk. While the developments in this space may seem relatively limited, they emphasize the breadth of potential entities, types of conduct or missteps, and legal requirements that may be subject to enforcement under DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative or other applicable authorities.
Jelly Bean Communications Design
In March, DOJ announced that Jelly Bean Communications Design and its manager had agreed to pay approximately $294,000 to resolve FCA allegations that they failed to…
