2/3/2015
By Ivan Pereira
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman slapped Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills was indictment Tuesday for allegedly filing false documents to the city’s Conflict of Interest Board, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said yesterday.
Wills — who was previously indicted in May for allegedly pocketing campaign funds for personal use — was charged with five counts of false instrument for filing for cases that date back to 2011.
The attorney general said the 43-year-old councilman lied on reports submitted to the agency “with intent to defraud the state,” according to court papers.
Schneiderman worked with the office of State Comptroller Tom Dinapoli on the investigation.
“My office’s partnership with the comptroller is designed to combat corruption in the public sector, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the public trust is not undercut by public servants who are not truthful in their disclosures,” the attorney general said in a statement.
Under city law, elected officials must file annual reports that ensures there are no conflicts between the leader’s official duties and private interests. The indictment didn’t detail specifically what Wills allegedly falsified in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 reports.
Wills pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court and “is looking forward to the vindication that will come when the case is tried in a public courtroom before a jury of his peers not in a secret proceeding controlled by Mr. Schniederman,” his attorney said in a statement.
This is the second time in a year that the Wills has been indicted by Schneiderman; the councilman is awaiting trial for a series of charges handed to him in May.
IThe attorney general accused him then of diverting $11,500 in campaign finance money during his 2009 City Council run to a shell company. He allegedly used the cash for personal goods including a $750 Louis Vuitton handbag, according to Schneiderman.
Wills was also accused of stealing money from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Former state Sen. Shirley Huntley, who was sentenced in 2013 to a year prison on mail fraud charges, allegedly earmarked $33,000 to Wills’s charity NY 4 Life.
The charity was supposed to use the cash for public service projects, but Wills — who was Huntley’s chief of staff — allegedly used most of the money for political and personal uses, according to the indictment.
