IRS attorneys are flagging a high-profile real estate developer and his business partners for engaging in a tax avoidance scheme after they donated a collective gift to the University of Michigan.
The Detroit Free Press reports that a federal tax judge disallowed a $33 million tax deduction last month that Stephen M. Ross and partners received after giving a large donation to Ross' alma mater.
The judge also imposed maximum civil penalties for a "gross valuation mistreatment" that could cost Ross and his partners millions more.
Ross' gifts make him the second largest donor to any college or university in the U.S.
A spokesman for Ross says he's likely to appeal the ruling.