The Trump Tower Board of Directors is seeking nearly $ 90,000 from the estate of a fallen art collector on the 50th floor



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Six months after the Trump Tower fire, which killed Todd Brassner, a resident of the 50th floor, the building board comes after Brassner's estate for tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid common charges, resulting from a lien on his apartment, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday at the New York County Supreme Court.

Brassner, a long-time resident of Trump Tower who lived alone with hundreds of vintage instruments and an elaborate multi-million dollar art collection, has died as a result of electric fire that devastated his apartment and was devoid of smoke detectors. He was 67 years old.

Now, with the support of a Trump Organization lawyer, Trump Tower Condominium's board of trustees is suing Brassner's estate for more than $ 64,600 of unpaid common charges, which includes expenses accrued during months after Brassner's death. The board also seeks a judgment of at least $ 25,000, bringing the total amount claimed to almost $ 90,000. Common expenses are condo fees typically including maintenance, utilities or other services. Brassner failed to pay common expenses in June 2015, according to the complaint.

The members of Brassner's family and the executors of his estate, Heather and Aaron Brassner, could not be reached immediately for comment, nor could counsel representing the board of directors.

The fire of the Trump Tower, where the President's penthouse and the headquarters of the Trump organization are located, drew attention in April, both on Trump's silence on the death of Brassner and the lack of sprinklers in the building, a feature against which Trump had insisted. condos in the late 1990s.

Brassner moved into the Trump Tower in 1996, according to the property's records. Son of a rich New York art collector, Brassner was described by his friends as an "absolute expert of Pop Art" who "constantly traded, bought and sold" and who was at the center of the art. 39, action in the art world, as his friend, Stuart Pivar, told the Art Newspaper. In the 1970s, Brassner led the crowd at Andy Warhol's factory when he was building an impressive collection of works, including a Warhol portrait of Brassner in 1975 valued at $ 850,000 per year. the resident of Trump Tower in 2015.

He kept the portrait in his Trump Tower condo, with a collection of more than 100 vintage guitars, $ 25,000 worth of banjos, about 150 ukulele from the early 20th century, an organ, a sculpture by Robert Indiana, and a work by Jack Kerouac – just to name a few elements.

But over the years, it seemed to be struggling to keep up with the pace of condo payments. The Trump Tower Residence Council filed several liens against him between 2003 and 2013 for unpaid common charges, according to New York court records. And in 2015, he declared bankruptcy, which included listing all the assets held in his apartment. The condo was valued at $ 2.5 million.

At the time of Brassner's death, friends told the New York Times that his health was declining and he had tried unsuccessfully to sell the apartment. Once Trump became president, thus creating an ubiquitous armed security outside Trump Tower, Brassner did not seem to find a buyer, a friend told The Times.

"It haunts me," Stephen Dwire, a friend of Brassner, a musician and producer, told the newspaper. He said, "It becomes untenable. "It was like living in an armed camp, but when people heard it was a Trump building, he could not give it."

Trump built the tower in 1983, when the installation of sprinklers was not necessary. In 1998, when two tragic high-fire fires in New York killed several people, the city began demanding sprinklers in the buildings. But Trump objected to upgrading his building with sprinklers and lobbied to persuade city officials to abandon a proposal that would have required them in older buildings, as previously reported on Washington Post.

Some have speculated that the April fire could have been mitigated had it been installed.

The New York City Fire Department finally discovered that the fire had been caused by an overloaded electrical panel. The Times reported that the building was equipped with smoke sensors, which alerted firefighters to the fire.

In one Twitter statement In April, Trump did not offer his condolences to the Brassner family, but boasted about the construction of the building.

"The fire at Trump Tower is off," he tweeted, before the fire was extinguished. "Very confined (well built building). Firefighters (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!"

A month after Brassner's death, a Trump Organization lawyer filed a lien on the deceased on behalf of the Trump Tower Condominium Residence Council, at that time charging $ 52,000 in unpaid common expenses since July 2016, according to the Ministry of Finance of New York City. recordings.

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