Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and his soon-to-be ex-wife Kellie are each facing nine counts of tax crimes, TMZ has learned. These charges are pertaining to their alleged failure to pay state taxes in Minnesota, as well as aiding and abetting the filing of false or fraudulent returns, and failing to file returns.
Prosecutors claim both of them didn’t even file taxes from 2016, 2017, and 2018, while their tax problems go even further back to 2014. They allegedly failed to report a joint income totaling $464,433, and owe $37,868 to the state in unpaid taxes, interest and fees.
Chauvin is accused of withholding information regarding the income he received from jobs outside of working as a police officer. It is estimated his side hustle as a security guard has earned him as much as $95,000 since 2014. Kellie, meanwhile, has netted tens of thousands of dollars for failing to report the money she made off her work in realty and photography.
The two allegedly discussed their tax issues over the phone last month while Chauvin was in police custody. After he informed her that authorities were looking into their records, Kellie said she was meeting with someone about "[2016] to now."
Chauvin openly advised her to go to the person "we have used to handle for many years." Kellie may have unknowingly clued prosecutors into who exactly that person is with her response, saying, "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."
To make matters worse, there's also alleged malfeasance in regards to the homes they’ve purchased in Minnesota and Florida, in addition to a BMW that has been serviced over 10 times in Minnesota but is registered in Florida. They could face up to five years. Of course, these charges pale in comparison to Chauvin’s second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for the killing of George Floyd.
He's currently in prison. Chauvin’s bail was set at $1.25 million bail.
