Would it be considered oppression toward the minority shareholder or just flat out against the law if the majority shareholder who controls the LLC forms a non profit "church" (which he controls), makes significant charitible contributions to that "church", then draws a salary from the "church"?

The majority shareholder is getting a tax credit from one company he controls by donating money to another company he controls then drawing a salary from that company. It appears to me that this is a way for the majority shareholder to draw more of the profit from the LLC without having to split it with the minority shareholder.

Any advise would be useful.

I can certainly understand this is a frustrating situation for you. I suggest you contact an attorney to determine your legal options. You can find an attorney through the locator service on LawInfo’s home page at: http://www.lawinfo.com/.

You can also browse through the information in LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center here: http://www.lawinfo.com/index.cfm/fus...lient.consumer, or search for your particular topic here: http://resources.lawinfo.com/index.html.

Unfortuantely there usually isn't a bright-line answer to your question. These situations can be highly fact specific. However, charitable donations aren't necessarily "illegal" just becuase the person exercising control over the donation is affiliated with the charitable organization. Does the company have an in-house or oustide corporate attorney? If not, I suggest you speak to an independent attorney for further information. Good luck.