In early May, police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd for eight minutes, ultimately killing him while three of his fellow officers stood idly by. As protestors against systemic racism and injustice filled the streets, Chauvin found himself charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter; he is currently doing jail time with a bail set at $1.25 million. Today, TMZ reports that Chauvin has been hit with several new charges, entirely unrelated to his involvement in Floyd's death.
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Apparently, Chauvin and his estranged wife Kellie face nine felony tax charges, stemming from the fact that neither opted to pay Minnesota state taxes for several years among other monetary wrongdoings. TMZ claims that the Chauvins neglected to pay their state taxes from 2014 to 2018, which ultimately saw them charged with "aiding and abetting the filing of false or fraudulent returns" among several other counts. The investigators also accused the couple of misrepresenting their combined income, with Derek going so far as to abstain from declaring his security side jobs, and Kellie doing the same for her realty and photography endeavors.
Lastly, TMZ states that Derek and Kellie actually spoke of their tax problems this June, while the former officer was in custody; a prosecutor accuses Chauvin of warning Kellie that they were being looked into, imploring her to speak with his father, a request that Kellie reportedly met with hesitance. While there are many details to unpack, both Chauvins currently face up to five years in prison if found guilty of these tax charges.
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