Gigats.com Didn't Help People Find Jobs, but Generated Leads for Third Parties, FTC Says

release. Commissioners voted 3-0 for authorizing staff to file the complaint and proposed court order with U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The proposed order imposes a $90.2 million judgment on defendants Expand -- which also does business as Gigats, Education Match and SoftRock -- and Ayman Difrawi, who is also known as Alec Difrawi and Ayman El-Difrawi. But the judgment will be suspended upon payment of $360,000, unless the agency later discovers the defendants misrepresented their financial condition, the FTC said. The commission's complaint said Gigats collected and summarized online job announcements posted by companies, governments and other employers on the website. But the FTC alleged many of those job openings weren't current and employers hadn't authorized Gigats to collect applications or screen or interview applicants, and Gigats "never sent" the collected information to hiring employers. The FTC alleged that Gigats directed job seekers to enroll in education programs, which paid the defendants for consumer leads. Gigats also had "education advisors" who "falsely claimed to be independent" but recommended only schools and programs that agreed to pay the company typically $22 to $125 for each qualified lead. Gigats is barred from misrepresenting itself and from transferring people's personal information to third parties without disclosure and without revealing its relationship with those parties. The company didn't comment.