Nine universities have received a collective $45-million in recent weeks from an anonymous donor or donors who stipulated that the recipients not investigate the source of the funds, the Associated Press reports.

Dealing with the colleges though lawyers or other middlemen, the mystery donor has since March 1 bestowed gifts ranging from the largest, $8-million to Purdue University, to $1.5-million to the University of North Carolina at Asheville, which contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service to ensure the money did not come from illegal sources.

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