Evan Agostini / AP Photo
The Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, the spiritual center focused on Jewish mysticism and championed by Madonna, is being investigated by the IRS for tax evasion, sources said Thursday. The criminal division of the IRS is looking into the finances of two charities connected to Madonna, among other things. The probe is focused on whether the Berg family, which has controlled the Kabbalah Center for more than four decades, has used nonprofit funds for personal enrichment. The Center has some A-list followers such as Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Gwyneth Paltrow, and its assets are thought to exceed $260 million. The investigation comes at the same time as a handful of lawsuits have put the Center’s financial dealings into question, and just after Madonna’s Kabbalah Center-backed charity, Raising Malawi, announced that it is abandoning its efforts to build a girls’ school in Malawi.