Fearless Fund drops grant program for Black women business owners in lawsuit settlement

A venture capital firm has closed a grant program for Black women business owners as part of a settlement with a conservative group that had filed a lawsuit alleging the program was discriminatory. Both sides announced the settlement Wednesday, two months after a U.S. federal court of appeals panel ordered the Atlanta-Based Fearless Fund to suspend the grant. In a 2-1 ruling, the appeals court ruled that the American Alliance for Equal Rights, led by conservative activists Ed Blum, was likely to prevail in its lawsuit claiming that the program illegally discriminated on the basis of race.