According to
TMZ, Derek Chauvin -- the ex-Minneapolis cop charged with murdering George
Floyd -- now has more legal trouble on his hands over his taxes ... and so does
his estranged wife.
Chauvin and
his estranged spouse, Kellie, were each hit Wednesday with 9 felony counts
related to their alleged failure to pay state taxes in Minnesota -- including
counts for aiding and abetting the filing of false or fraudulent returns and
additional counts for failing to file returns at all.
According to
court docs, officials in Washington County, Minnesota claim the couple's tax
issues date back to 2014 and they're accused of not filing at all for the years
2016, 2017 and 2018. They each face the same 9 counts.
Specifically,
investigators claim the couple was significantly under-reporting their combined
income. For instance, prosecutors say Derek was raking in tens of thousands of
dollars on top of his police officer salary at MPD between side security gigs
-- one of which prosecutors estimate totalled upwards of $95k between 2014-2019
-- as well as other odd jobs.
Prosecutors
also claim Kellie was raking in tens of thousands herself from realtor work and
her photography business. None of the money was reported, according to the
charging docs. There's also alleged malfeasance over different homes they've
purchased in Minnesota and Florida -- not to mention a new BMW that they
allegedly registered in Florida, but had serviced more than 10 times in
Minnesota.
And, get this
... prosecutors also allege that Derek and Kellie talked about these tax
problems on the phone while he was in custody back in June. They claim Derek
told Kellie people were looking into their records, and allege Kellie responded
she was meeting with someone about "(2016) to now."
They go on to
claim Chauvin told Kellie to use the same person "we have used to handle
for many years." That person appears to have been Derek's own father, as
prosecutors say Kellie responded, "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..."
Long story
short, we're talking a lot of money and alleged wrongdoing here -- and if
convicted on each of the felony counts ... they could face up to five years in
prison.
Of course,
these legal woes are on top of the second-degree murder and manslaughter
charges Chauvin faces in connection to George's killing earlier in May. He
remains behind bars with his bail set at $1.25 million. He hasn't entered a
plea yet in the case.
As for Kellie
... she recently filed for divorce and just reportedly got the okay from a
judge to have the case sealed for privacy and safety concerns, with hizzoner
citing constant harassment as a consideration in keeping it under wraps.
Source
TMZ
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