MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — There is more legal trouble for the former Minneapolis police officer at the center of the George Floyd case.
Derek Chauvin and his estranged wife, Kellie, now face felony tax evasion charges in Washington County.
Court documents filed Wednesday reveal the Chauvins, who filed for divorce in late May, are accused of not reporting and underreporting hundreds of thousands of dollars of income.
Assistant County Attorney Scott Haldeman says the investigation began days after the death of George Floyd, when the Minnesota Department of Revenue received information about the Chauvins.
“They’re accused of not filing tax returns from the years of 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Chauvins did file returns in 2014 and 2015, but severely underreported the income in those returns,” Haldeman said.
Investigators searched the Chauvins’ Oakdale home, looked at bank records and talked with employers.
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Kellie Chauvin and Derek Chauvin (credit: Pioneer Press/CBS)
Derek Chauvin worked off-duty security jobs. The criminal complaint alleges he didn’t report the additional income in 2014 and 2015. Similarly, Kellie is charged with not reporting income from her side jobs. And they’re accused of not filing any returns, including extra income, for three years.
Haldeman says once Kellie learned of the investigation, she tried to file for the missing years, but again omitted extra income.
“It tells me that it was a willful act, and there was intention behind not filing these returns,” he said.
During a June interview, the complaint says Kellie told investigators that she had not filed income tax returns because “it got away from her.”
And during a recorded phone call with Derek Chauvin in jail, she allegedly said, “Yeah, well we don’t want to get your dad involved because he will just be mad at me, I mean us for not doing them for years.”
“There was an admission in there saying we haven’t been filing these,” Haldeman said. “It just certainly bolsters the case.”
By the numbers, the Chauvins are accused of underreporting $464,433 of income, and they owed $21,853. With penalties and interest, they now owe $37,868.
If convicted, each of the nine charges carry a penalty of up to five years and up to a $10,000 fine.
WCCO reached out to the Chauvins’ attorneys, and neither provided a comment on the charges.
Source: CBS Minnesota
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