Alleged serial killer worked at Trump’s 40 Wall Street

Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann was a prolific architect in New York City with a myriad of customers ranging from office to retail to residential. But one stands out.

According to a 2018 filing with the New York City Department of Buildings, Heuermann was hired for a job at one of Donald Trump’s most prized properties — 40 Wall Street.

Now known as The Trump Building, the 71-story landmark property built in 1930 evidently needed some work on the 17th floor. According to the filing, Heuermann was hired for a “renovation of office space to include minor partition and plumbing changes.”

The job did not change use, egress or occupancy. The estimated cost was a little over $200,000. Steve Lafiosca, named as the vice president of property management for Trump’s firm, is listed under owner’s information in the city filing.

But according to the firm, the work was for a tenant, and the Trump executive’s name on the filing was a formality, not an indication of a direct relationship with the now-infamous architect.

“Mr. Heuermann has never worked for the Trump Organization in any capacity,” a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said. “According to our records, he was hired by a third-party tenant, who vacated years ago, to perform minor architectural work in their individual space.”

The Trump Organization purchased the ground lease at 40 Wall Street in 1995 from Kinson Properties of Hong Kong for a song — less than $8 million.

“The acquisition of 40 Wall might be the greatest deal Trump ever made,” Crain’s New York wrote in 2020.

Heuermann was arrested on Friday in connection with the gruesome serial killings of women on Long Island between 1996 and 2011. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, sex workers who were murdered in 2009, 2010 and 2010, respectively.

The architect and expeditor is being held without bail.

Meanwhile Trump, as everyone not living under a rock knows, has been embroiled in legal troubles of his own.

The former president was arrested in June on 37 federal charges related to alleged mishandling of classified documents, including obstruction of justice and making false statements related to the case. On Tuesday, he was also informed by the United States Department of Justice that he is a target in a special council probe into the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a civil lawsuit in May, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996. She was awarded a $5 million judgment.

In December, the Trump Organization was convicted in Manhattan of tax fraud.

This article has been updated to include a statement from the Trump Organization.

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