Kellie Chauvin and ex-husband Derek Chauvin plead not guilty to tax fraud charges
Kellie Chauvin, along with her ex-husband, Derek Chauvin have pleaded not guilty to multiple tax evasion charges after allegedly failing to report their income by nearly $500,000. Derek, a former Minneapolis police officer, is currently in prison, serving a 22.5-year sentence in the George Floyd murder case.
The former couple appeared remotely during the court proceedings from different locations. While Derek, 45, appeared via Zoom for the brief hearing from the state's maximum-security prison at Oak Park Heights, where he is being housed after his conviction in April for second-degree murder in the May 2020 death of Floyd, his realtor ex-spouse, who had previously expressed the desire to divorce her then-husband days after Floyd's death, appeared from a different location which was unclear. Washington County District Judge Sheridan Hawley set the date for the next hearing on January 21. However, a trial date has not been set.
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What happened to Kellie Chauvin's tax charges? The couple was charged with nine felony tax crimes
Derek, the Minneapolis ex-cop who infamously knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes as the African-American man repeatedly pleaded with him, telling him that he could not breathe, sat in a prison conference room dressed in a white t-shirt. He appeared to say little except "yes, your honor," to answer routine questions from the judge.
What are the tax evasion charges against Derek and Kellie Chauvin?
Derek and Kellie Chauvin were charged with nine felony tax evasion counts filed in July of 2020 which alleged that the ex-couple underreported their joint income by $464,433 from 2014 through 2019. This included more than $95,000 for his off-duty security work. MEAWW had previously reported that the tax evasion trial was shifted to June 30, 2021, by which time his trial on murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Floyd was expected to be over.
Derek and Kellie appeared in January in separate and very brief hearings before Hawley. Attorney Pete Orput alleged at the time that the Chauvin's 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 did extensive off-duty work, much of which wasn’t listed 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.
Derek's security job and Kellie's photography business
According to the report created by the investigators, it was estimated 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 got to know that Chauvin didn’t list the 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 as a security person at the Midtown Global Market and Cub Foods.
The Chauvins also didn’t report more than $66,000 in income from a photography business operated by Kellie. In total, investigators estimate that the Chauvins owe almost $22,000 in back taxes, as well as almost $11,000 in fraud penalties. The couple received warning letters from the Minnesota department of revenue for missing income tax returns within the last year.
Derek is also facing a separate federal civil rights trial to which he has pleaded not guilty and is also appealing his murder conviction. Three other former officers who still face trial in state court with aiding and abetting Chauvin in Floyd's death will also face the civil rights trial along with him.