Chauvin, wife charged with tax fraud
The former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder and manslaughter in the killing George Floyd in May has been charged with nine counts of tax fraud in Washington County.
Washington County Attorney Pete Orput alleges that Derek Chauvin and his estranged wife Kellie Chauvin underreported their income by almost half a million dollars between 2014 and the end of 2019. The couple didn’t file taxes at all between 2016 and 2018. The nine felony charges against the couple range from failing to file tax returns to filing false returns.
Investigators found that Chauvin performed extensive off-duty work, much of which wasn’t reported as income on their taxes. The Minneapolis Police Department requires approval for officers working off-duty, but doesn’t collect information about how many hours or how much pay the officers receive.
Investigators estimate that Chauvin earned $95,920 working security between 2014 and 2019 at El Nuevo Rodeo club, which burned down during the days of civil unrest following Floyd’s killing. They also found that Chauvin didn’t report income he earned from working security shifts of three and a half hours at EME Antro Bar in Minneapolis for $250 in cash. Records show he also worked security at the Midtown Global Market and Cub Foods.
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The Chauvins also didn’t report more than $66,000 in income from a photography business that Kellie Chauvin operated.
In addition, prosecutors allege that the Chauvins listed a home they owned in Florida as their residence in 2018 when purchasing a $100,000 BMW in Minnetonka, Minn., despite living in Oakdale, Minn. Kellie Chauvin told investigators that she and Derek Chauvin changed their residency to Florida because it was cheaper to register a car there.
Kellie Chauvin filed for divorce on May 31, less than a week after Chauvin killed Floyd. In that still pending filing, she asked to receive both homes owned by the couple.
In a recorded call at Oak Park Heights prison, where Derek Chauvin is being held, Kellie Chauvin told him that police had searched their Oakdale home and that investigators were looking into their tax returns, according to the complaint. Derek Chauvin’s father had prepared their taxes prior to 2016.
Derek Chauvin told her that they should use “who we have used to handle for many years.” Kellie Chauvin allegedly responded that she didn’t want to get his dad involved “because he will just be mad at me, I mean, us, for not doing them for years.”
In total, investigators estimate that the Chauvins owe almost $22,000 in back taxes, as well as almost $11,000 in fraud penalties. Both Kellie and Derek Chauvin received warning letters from Minnesota Department of Revenue for missing income tax returns within the last year.
Derek Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s killing. Video captured by a bystander showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes on the night of May 25. Three other former officers are also charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.