U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

An attorney in South Florida is accused of running a $35 million federal tax advice scam offering fake deductions using three bogus charities for 19 years.

The Justice Department filed the civil lawsuit in Miami federal court seeking an injunction against attorney Michael L. Meyer of Southwest Ranches. He has licenses to practice law in Kentucky and Indiana.

The 56-page complaint pending before U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom alleges Meyer was at the helm of ”a national charitable-giving tax scheme” that targeted “wealthy individuals in high tax brackets facing large tax liabilities.”

The Justice Department's tax division claims Meyer helped clients “claim unwarranted charitable deductions for purported contributions to one of three bogus charities” he controlled.

Meyer's Kentucky Bar Association file shows he began practicing law in the state in October 1997. He specializes in taxation and has no record of public discipline.

No attorney has entered an appearance for Meyer, who did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

The complaint alleges Meyer's clients claimed “purported donations … made on paper only.”

“The participants never actually surrender dominion or control of the donated property to the charities,” according to a DOJ statement. “Some of the purported contributions allegedly consist solely of backdated promissory notes created by Meyer as well as fabricated intellectual property.”

The suit also alleged Meyer prepared baseless appraisals and false federal tax forms as part of the scheme.

“From 1999 to the present, Michael L. Meyer … has organized, promoted, and operated an elaborate — and bogus — charitable giving tax scheme throughout the United States,” according to the complaint filed by Justice Department attorneys Casey Smith and James F. Bresnahan II. “Through this scheme, Meyer creates an entity for each scheme participant and advises them to transfer assets to the new entity. Meyer then causes the participants to purportedly 'donate' or 'assign' an interest in these entities to charities that Meyer controls. Meyer then 'appraises' the purportedly donated interests in a manner that fails to comply with the law and generally accepted appraisal standards. Finally, Meyer prepares the federal income tax return documents to claim the bogus charitable contribution deductions.”

The lawsuit alleged Meyer advised clients to take tax deductions for donations to his fake charities. It claimed he misrepresented his experience and credentials, lied about the merits of the charity scam and sold the scheme to clients working with financial planners and certified public accountants who collected referral fees.

“This entire tax scheme occurs only on paper,” the complaint said.

Meyer described his offering as “The Ultimate Plan” and “The Ultimate Tax Plan” and named his charities the National Endowment Association Inc., Grace Heritage Corp. and Indiana Endowment Fund Inc., the complaint said.

He agreed with the Internal Revenue Service in 2014 to retroactively revoke National Endowment's tax-exempt status. But by that time, the lawsuit said the IRS identified transactions that already had cost the U.S. Department of the Treasury $35 million in lost tax revenue.

“While the IRS has assessed and will continue to assess scheme participants with significant tax liabilities, it will likely never fully recover the monies Meyer bilked from the Treasury,” according to the complaint.

Among other requests, the suit seeks to bar Meyer from offering tax advice and preparing appraisals for federal tax filings.