In October 2021, the DOJ announced the formation of the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative to utilize the FCA to pursue cybersecurity-related fraud by government contractors and grant recipients. DOJ plans to focus on entities that knowingly misrepresent their cybersecurity practices or protocols, knowingly violate obligations to monitor and report cybersecurity incidents and breaches, or knowingly provide deficient cybersecurity products or services. Such deficiencies could include failure to meet specific contract terms such as requirements to take measures to protect government data, to restrict non-U.S. citizen employees from accessing systems, or to avoid using components from certain foreign countries. DOJ has already begun encouraging whistleblowers to bring cybersecurity-related FCA cases. Contractors and grant recipients would be wise to review the cybersecurity requirements in their contracts, grants, and licenses to ensure compliance and avoid being the subject of action by this new DOJ initiative.
The United States has been actively involved in CARES Act enforcement matters. To date, the vast majority of cases have involved criminal prosecutions as opposed to civil enforcement through the False Claims Act and other civil enforcement tools. FCA practitioners generally expect significant civil enforcement activity in the near future. The United States has made CARES Act enforcement a priority at DOJ and the many federal...
A video showing French riot police violently beating a 26-year-old street medic in Paris has gone viral, with social media users falsely claiming he died from his injuries. But the street medic is...