NYC Building Collapse Engineer Fined $10K, Suspended 2 Years: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — An engineer who botched an inspection of Bronx building that partially collapsed will pay a $10,000 fine, officials said.

Richard Koenigsberg agreed to the fine as part of a voluntary two-year suspension from conducting facade inspections in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday.

The suspension stems from what officials called Koenigsberg's "negligence" when he misdiagnosed a load-bearing column as decorative at 1915 Billingsley Terrace, a building that dramatically collapsed Dec. 11.

"Decisive actions, like the one announced today against Mr. Koenigsberg, send a clear message to the industry that we will not tolerate sloppy work that puts our fellow New Yorkers in danger," said Jimmy Oddo, the city's buildings commissioner, in a statement.

City officials had temporarily suspended Koenigsberg's inspection authority in the days after the collapse.

And officials Thursday stressed that further, ongoing investigations in the collapse could lead to further consequences for Koenigsberg and others responsible for the building's safety.

Nearly 370 of Koenigsberg's past facade inspections have been audited by Department of Buildings officials to make sure they don't contain other blunders, authorities said.

Koenigsberg, under the suspension, will wind down his business for a four-month span, officials said. His work will be reviewed by a third-party engineering firm and DOB engineers, officials said.

Families have begun moving back into the building, although many contended in a recent lawsuit that landlords are dragging their feet on necessary repairs.

The landlords also knew since at least 2014 that the building had potentially dangerous problems, according to the lawsuit.

"Respondents are seasoned landlords who knew or should have known that the unsafe exterior wall conditions, left unabated, could lead to catastrophic consequences for their residents," the lawsuit states.