Ruben Wills Pleads the 5th in Response to Schneiderman Motion Compelling His Testimony [UPDATED]

New documents were filed related to a  controversy that erupted last week, which centered around Queens Councilman Ruben Wills’ refusal to comply with subpoena requests seeking information about his non-profit’s spending.

Court records show that on May 24, the New York attorney general’s office withdrew its “motion to compel” Wills to provide records about the spending of the non-profit, New York 4 Life, which got a $33,000 member item from State Sen. Shirley Huntley in 2008, after City Councilman Ruben Wills pled the 5th amendment in response to the Attorney General’s questions.

The Attorney General’s office confirmed that Wills had pled the 5th, which amounted to a technical satisfaction of the “motion to compel,” but which had given the office no more information than they already had. The Attorney General’s office said the investigation is ongoing.

Wills was expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

His lawyer had previously informed Schneiderman’s office that Wills would invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against giving testimony that might incriminate himself, according to  the Daily News, which wrote about the case on June 11.

Since that news broke about the probe into Wills’ nonprofit, the New York City Council has opened an ethics investigation, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn has cut off Wills’ access to member item funds.

This story has been updated with clarifications at 6:20 p.m.

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