Business Settles Fraud Case

A business charged with fraudulently selling consumers lists of foundations that supposedly offered grants to individuals has agreed to pay the government $296,000 and halt its operation, under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

The business, which operated under two names — Grant Search, of Ashland, Ore., and Grant Pac, of Sedalia, Mo. — used direct mail, classified ads, and the Internet to sell lists of charitable foundations it claimed would award grants to individuals. For an additional fee, the company offered to fill out grant-application forms.

The commission said that what consumers received instead were outdated lists of foundations — most of which offered no grants to individuals — and general information on how charities could apply for foundation grants.

The agreement, settling charges the government filed in U.S. District Court in Missouri, also bars the companies and their principals — Steven G. Levine, Sunday Levine, and Scott Stettnichs — from selling or leasing their customer lists.