Derek Chauvin pleads guilty to tax evasion charges as he remains behind bars for murder of George Floyd

Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges, marking the latest in a growing number of criminal convictions for the killer of George Floyd.

The disgraced former Minneapolis police officer and convicted murderer appeared remotely in Minnesota court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting and failing to report income to the State of Minnesota for the years 2016 and 2017.

Chauvin blamed his actions on “financial problems” he said he and his now ex-wife Kellie May Chauvin were experiencing at the time.

“The real reason was financial issues at the time,” he told Washington County Judge Sheridan Hawley.

Chauvin and his ex-wife were charged with multiple counts of underreporting their joint income by more than $460,000 and failing to file tax returns between 2014 and 2019.

The couple owe the state of Minnesota $37,868 in unpaid taxes, interest and fees, prosecutors say.

During those years, Chauvin was a former cop with the Minneapolis Police Department and also worked on the side as an off-duty security guard.

Kellie May Chauvin worked as a real estate agent and also ran a photography business.

Investigators said Chauvin earned more than $95,000 from one of several off-duty security jobs he held between 2014 and 2020 – but paid no income tax.

Last month Kellie May Chauvin – who divorced her husband following his arrest for murder – pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and betting on their failure to file tax returns for 2016 and 2017.

Chauvin appeared for Friday’s plea hearing on Zoom from federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, where he is serving time for the 2020 Memorial Day murder of the black father.

On May 25, 2020, the veteran Minneapolis police officer knelt on the black man’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds as he begged for air saying “I can’t breathe” until his dead.

Cellphone footage has captured the horrific murder, sparking protests across the world demanding racial justice and an end to police brutality against black people.

Chauvin is now behind bars after being convicted of both state and federal charges for the murder of Floyd.

In April 2021, Chauvin was convicted of second degree murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter at his state trial and was sentenced to 22½ years.

Eight months later, he then pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights when he murdered him – part of a plea deal that saw him moved from a facility in the state of Minnesota to a nicer federal prison.

In July 2022, he was sentenced to 21 years on the federal charges.

Both sentences are being served concurrently and he will serve both at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue launched a tax evasion investigation into Chauvin and his ex-wife a month after he was arrested for Floyd’s murder when the killer’s suspicious documents came to light.

The investigation revealed that the couple had not filed income tax returns for 2016, 2017 or 2018 and had not declared all of their income for 2014 and 2015.

The Chauvins then filed a tax return for 2016 to 2019 in June 2020 – the month the investigation was launched – but have still not declared all of their income.

Under Kellie May Chauvin’s plea deal, she expects three years probation and $37,868 restitution, with no more than 45 days of community service when she is sentenced on May 12. may.

Chauvin’s guilty plea comes months after he appealed his state murder charges, saying he was denied a fair trial due to the high-profile nature of the case.