ST. LOUIS — The state of Missouri this week sued the owners of a former area business, alleging it fraudulently sold computer-training courses at several offices nationwide, including in Blue Ash, with promises of jobs paying up to $45,000.

        The lawsuit, filed Monday in St. Louis County by Attorney General Jay Nixon, accuses the two suburban St. Louis founders of Linuxgruven. Mr. Nixon said the defunct company offered courses under the guise of preparing students for Linuxgruven jobs as computer technicians or network engineers.

        Mr. Nixon alleges that fewer than 20 percent of about 1,000 students who paid $2,500 to $3,150 for the course were ever hired because they failed a test administered by the company.

        At company leaders' behest, the test was revised occasionally to make it harder to pass, he added.

        Other students who were unable to start training when Linuxgruven went out of business last spring were never reimbursed their tuition, Mr. Nixon said.

        “Linuxgruven apparently was in business to perpetuate itself through training tuition, rather than actually providing technical support to other companies,” Mr. Nixon said.

        The lawsuit names James M. Hibbits, of Florissant, and Michael J. Lebb, of Clayton, who were founders and sole owners of Linuxgruven. The company pitched itself as a technical support and services company for businesses using the Linux computer operating system.

        The suit seeks orders for restitution and to bar the men from soliciting trainees without disclosing facts such as the likelihood of landing a job.

        In Greater Cincinnati, the company attracted students through newspaper advertisements. Starting in spring 2000, it offered three classes per day, each with about a dozen students, said Kurt Adams, a former student from Dayton, Ohio.

        Mr. Adams was one of two Tristate residents to file a complaint about Linuxgruven with the Ohio Attorney General's office.

        Mr. Nixon charged that Linuxgruven placed help-wanted ads for Linux engineers in major newspapers nationwide, adding that training was available at company centers in St. Louis, Denver, Atlanta, and Dallas and Austin, Texas.

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