Washington (CNN) The chief of staff for Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin altered an email and made false statements to a department ethics official that led to taxpayers covering expenses for Shulkin's wife on an official trip to Europe last summer, the agency's inspector general found.

Vivieca Wright Simpson, Shulkin's chief of staff, altered language in an email regarding the logistics of the trip that made it seem as though Shulkin and his wife had been invited to a "special recognition dinner" held by the Danish government. That led to the department paying for Shulkin's wife's more than $4,000 in airfare, according to the report which was released Wednesday.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General referred those allegations to the Justice Department, which decided not to prosecute at this time, according to the IG report. A VA spokesman did not respond to CNN's inquiry as to whether Wright Simpson remains on staff.

The investigation also found that Shulkin inappropriately accepted tickets to a Wimbeldon tennis match, and used a VA staffer to arrange personal activities for himself and his wife during the trip, saying that the aide "effectively acted as a personal travel concierge" for the couple.

Shulkin, who has been the head of the VA for a little more than a year but was a holdover from the Obama administration, defended himself Wednesday in a blistering statement, calling the investigation and the report a "direct assault on my spouse, my character, and my unblemished record of service to the Veterans Affairs Administration."

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