Its funny because I was just listening to someone talking about the hard and fast rule he lives by, which is no matter the situation, if he gets a bad feeling, or the person he is dealing with tries to make any change to something agreed upon, he just backs out. He said it doesn't matter how small, he can be in a million dollar deal, and the second the guy says "Ohh there's one little thing here but its not a big deal, just wanted to be upfront" or whatever, he just nope's out.
I thought about what he was saying and yeah, that would have been excellent advice for me to have taken at multiple points in my life. Everyone remembers my car buying fiasco. Deal wasn't too good to be true, but seemed fair. I showed up and the front windshield had a huge crack across it, despite the fact they had told me it was in excellent condition with no damage. I should have just fucking driven off right there, but didn't and it cost me months of suffering and financial and emotional hardships. Another time I had a friend who needed help and a place to live, I helped him out, but day by days bits of his story weren't always adding up. Little things, but I was questioning if I did the right thing 2-3 days in. 6 months later I'm having to forcibly throw the guy out after finding him stealing from me and lying about basically anything he told me.
But yeah, basically the guy got you all excited and then when you were already invested he's coming at you with the "Ohh little thing with the IRS, no big deal", nope. He may be a cool guy you get along with, but he's fucked up his personal finances and is looking for options,. You might be his get out of jail free card. I'd listen to these guys and not attach yourself to him. If you absolutely want to, work something out where you just partner up in name only, he gives your company X dollars for X work, but you are still two separate companies.