A lawyer who promoted a timeshare-donation tax shelter that overvalued properties has lost an appeal against an $8.46m penalty.
The lawyer, James Tarpey, stated that donors could claim charitable deductions based on inflated appraisals of the timeshares.
Tarpey's charity was called Donate for a Cause and his business handling the donated timeshares was called Resort Closings.
Between 2010 and 2013, Donate for a Cause accepted at least 7,600 timeshare donations.
The inflated valuations were provided by Tarpey, his sister, and two appraisers who did not qualify as qualified appraisers.