Derek Chauvin's ex-wife receives 20-day sentence for tax evasion, ordered to pay $38K in restitution

The ex-wife of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer imprisoned for murdering George Floyd, has received a 20-day sentence and $38,000 in restitution for failure to report income taxes.

Kellie Chauvin and her former husband, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Arizona for killing Floyd in May 2020 and violating his civil rights, were originally charged in Washington County District Court with nine felony counts of tax evasion for underreporting more than $464,000 in income and owing the government nearly $38,000.

They each pleaded not guilty in November 2021, but she changed her plea in late February and he did the same a month later, both admitting to two counts of aiding and abetting tax evasion.

Judge Sheridan Hawley sentenced the 48-year-old Kellie Chauvin on Friday to 20 days in jail, three years' probation and ordered her to pay $37,868 in restitution to cover the unpaid taxes. Rather than being in jail, Hawley said she can satisfy the time through "sentence to serve," which often means being part of a supervised work crew or doing some other community work involving physical labor.

Derek Chauvin, 47, was sentenced on March 17 to a 13-month term that runs concurrent with his murder sentence. He also was ordered to pay the restitution.

The charges were filed in July 2020 after Floyd's murder, but Washington County had been sending the Chauvins letters about tax and income discrepancies since 2019 with no response.

Kellie Chauvin worked as a real estate agent and ran a photography business. She filed for divorce two days after Derek Chauvin was charged with killing Floyd. The divorce was finalized in February 2021 under a sealed order. Kellie Chauvin has since indicated her intent to change her name for her protection.

Derek and Kellie Chauvin, who lived in Oakdale, were each charged with six counts involving aiding and abetting false or fraudulent returns starting with the 2014 tax year, and others for not filing taxes for 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The charges cited various sources of income for them. Between 2014 and 2019, Derek Chauvin made $52,000 to $72,000 annually as a police officer. He also worked off-duty security nearly every weekend in that time at El Nuevo Rodeo dance club, Cub Foods, Midtown Global Market and EME Antro Bar on E. Lake Street.

During that span, investigators estimated that Chauvin failed to pay taxes on nearly $96,000 he earned from El Nuevo Rodeo alone.

Kellie Chauvin told investigators she had not prepared the returns because "it got away" from her, according to court documents.

Staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this report.