Washington: Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing African-American man George Floyd under custody, has been charged with multiple felony counts of tax evasion.
Chauvin, who was filmed pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes leading to the latter’s death on May 25, and his estranged wife, Kellie, are accused of failing to report income from various jobs, and allegedly owe nearly $38,000 to the state of Minnesota state, the BBC reported.
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin was one of four officers involved in arresting George Floyd on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a market. Chauvin was the field training officer for two of the other involved officers, who were in their first week of active duty
They were each charged in Washington County on Wednesday with six counts of aiding and abetting filing false or fraudulent tax returns and three counts of aiding and abetting failing to file state tax returns.
They are accused of underreporting their joint income by $464,433 from 2014 to 2019.
This includes money Chauvin made doing off-duty security work and weekend shifts at a restaurant.
Chauvin is already in jail in connection with Floyd’s death but his wife, who filed for divorce following Floyd’s death, is not, the BBC reported.
He was fired from his job after the incident and now faces charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Three other officers were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting murder.