Queens City Councilman Ruben Wills was indicted Wednesday in Queens Criminal Court on corruption charges, including theft of campaign finance funds for a non-profit organization he is linked to.
Wills, a Democrat who has represented Jamaica, Richmond Hill and surrounding neighborhoods as a council member since 2011, maintained his innocence as he left court and said he would fight the charges. He said he had no immediate plans to resign.
'Why would I step aside from the council?' he asked reporters, saying he had the support of his district as well as support 'across the council.'
'I'm telling you I'm innocent. How many people have stood here before the cameras and said outright that they're innocent?' he said, adding that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. 'This is America, people.'
Wills faces 12 charges of corruption, including several degrees of scheming to defraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records, according to State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office.
Wills did not enter a plea and was released on his own recognizance.
A cousin who worked with him, Jelani Mills, also was arraigned. Mills faces lesser charges and was held on $20,000 bail.
Wills will no longer have discretion over how to distribute city funding, so-called member items, to his district, a City Hall source said. His delegation head and the speaker's office will take over that responsibility.
He has agreed to give up chairmanship of the subcommittee on drug abuse, the source said.
'The City Council takes these troubling allegations from the New York State attorney general very seriously and will be reviewing them thoroughly,' City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said in a statement. 'New Yorkers expect and deserve a government that is ethical and responsible and that is the standard we're seeking to uphold.'
Indictment Wills & Mills by ColinCampbell
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