Aerojet and the qui tam relator have entered into a 13th hour settlement—after a jury was seated and the trial was underway—to resolve the much-watched United States ex rel. Brian Markus v. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. False Claims Act (“FCA”) case. The parties—including the Department of Justice, which must consent to the settlement of qui tam claims—all seem to agree they do not want to run the risk of leaving this matter to be decided by a jury. Although it will not be the fully litigated test case for cyber-related FCA liability, the settlement shows that cyber noncompliance can have real financial consequences for government contractors.
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