A Buildings Department spokesman said Draper filed a type of permit application that's not automatically reviewed, and that self-certified permits are only randomly audited. This one was not.



Records show Draper's license was suspended for a month seven years ago and he was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and placed on probation for two years after being convicted of restraint of trade, which is a Class E felony. The city is now investigating 48 other buildings where Draper has done work.



It was not immediately clear what Draper did to warrant the suspension or how he came to work for Goldfarb Properties, which owns a dozen apartment buildings in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. The company has been hit with 259 building code violations in the last decade, records show.