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Investigators are cranking up their criminal probe of Queens Councilman Ruben Wills following the conviction of his mentor, ex-state Sen. Shirley Huntley, in a mushrooming scandal involving the theft of taxpayer funds from nonprofit groups, The Post has learned.
Probers are refocusing on Wills, a former chief-of-staff to Huntley, after Huntley pleaded guilty in federal court Jan. 30 to embezzling $87,700 in taxpayer money from a nonprofit, the Parents Information Network, founded by her daughter.
Huntley is expected to plead guilty to felony evidence-tampering charges stemming from a separate state corruption case against her pending in Nassau County Supreme Court. Wills is being eyed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for failure to account for about $32,000 in state funding that Huntley steered to a separate nonprofit group he headed, New York 4 Life.
The probe of Wills will move from the back burner once the Huntley case is disposed of, insiders said.
“Ruben Wills is definitely on everyone’s radar,” said one insider.
“Wills is definitely in the cross-hairs,” said another source.
On Aug. 26, 2010, Wills, on behalf of New York 4 Life, submitted a payment voucher to the state Office of Children and Family Services seeking an advance of $33,000.
On Sept. 7, the office paid New York 4 Life the $33,000. Wills, who was elected to the City Council in a November 2010 special election and whose leadership duties were stripped amid the probe, was the sole signatory and soon depleted the account.
In March 2011, the office sent a letter to the group asking how the $33,000 was spent. Neither Wills nor New York 4 Life responded.
A month later, the office demanded the group either provide an accounting of how the money was spent or return it. Wills and the group refused.
Schneiderman’s office then issued a subpoena in February 2012 seeking documentation of New York 4 Life’s spending. Only $980 was accounted for.
Wills subsequently refused to answer any questions — invoking the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination — in a meeting with investigators and state auditors.
Wills declined to comment on the investigation.
Ruben Wills (pictured) is the object of a state investigation.
* Set up New York 4 Life group in 2006.
* Group awarded $33,000 in state aid.
* About $32,000 of it is unaccounted for, according to state probe.
* Wills cited the Fifth Amendment when grilled about the group’s spending.