A billionaire who vowed to pay off the debt of an entire college class will pay $140 million to settle a 4-year tax probe, a report says

• The billionaire Robert Smith will pay $140 million to settle a four-year tax investigation, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
• The CEO of the private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners will admit misconduct but will not be prosecuted, sources told Bloomberg.
• The settlement amount, which is expected to be made public as early as Thursday, is said to include back taxes, penalties and interest.
• Bloomberg reported in August that Smith had been the subject of a four-year investigation by the Justice Department and the IRS into outstanding taxes on $200 million in assets.
• Smith hit headlines last year when he vowed to pay off the student loans of the entire graduating class of 2019 at Morehouse College.
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Robert Smith, the billionaire who pledged a year ago to pay off the student debt for an entire class of college graduates, will pay $140 million to settle a four-year tax investigation involving assets held in offshore tax havens, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said Smith told some executives of the pending agreement on Wednesday. Bloomberg said Smith, who heads up the private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners, was cooperating with investigators and would admit misconduct but would not be prosecuted.

Bloomberg reported in August that Justice Department and IRS officials had spent four years investigating whether Smith owed taxes on $200 million in assets that were moved through offshore entities.

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The settlement, which one source told Bloomberg could be made public as early as Thursday, is said to include back taxes, penalties, and interest. It does not involve Vista, Bloomberg said.

Representatives for Smith, Vista Equity Partners, and the US attorney in San Francisco declined to comment to Bloomberg on the nature of the agreement.

Smith's settlement includes a non-prosecution agreement that states he did not pay roughly $30 million in taxes, with penalties and interest accounting for the remainder of the payment, one source told Bloomberg.

The person added Smith admitted in a telephone call to failing to file accurate reports of foreign bank and financial accounts over three years.

Smith hit headlines last year when he pledged to pay off the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class at Morehouse College in Georgia.

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