Victim of sex abuse by LI teacher wins $30M case but hasn’t seen a penny — so now he’s going after perv’s NYC co-op
A Long Island native who endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of his fifth-grade teacher — and won a more than $30 million judgment against the educator in court — is now going after the pervert’s Upper West Side co-op, court records show.
Michael Malvin won the hefty judgment in 2022 after suing David Savage, now 73, under the Child Victim’s Act, the state law which opened a legal window for abuse survivors to bring outdated legal claims to court.
Savage hasn’t paid a penny, Malvin, 55, said in Manhattan Supreme Court papers filed Friday in which he sought to take over the one-bedroom Lincoln Towers pad at 140 West End Ave., which went on the market last year for $675,000 before the listing was withdrawn.
Malvin, who now lives in southern California, won a bid for the unoccupied apartment in June but says Savage, who lives in Florida, has ignored requests to turn it over.
“Getting the property is, to me, just a small part of the story,” Malvin told The Post, and it might actually cost him money.
The latest action is more about “the F-you factor of being the person to get this place,” he said.
“In our justice system, just because you win a civil case and somebody owes you money, there’s no legal compulsion on the person who loses to pay,” said Malvin’s attorney, Bernard D’Orazio. “The burden is on the person who wins to go out and find assets or income to collect from.”
Savage was Malvin’s fifth-grade teacher at Hewitt Elementary School in Rockville Centre in 1979 and began grooming him for a years-long sexual relationship when Malvin was just 10 years old.
“He was my first male teacher and I was excited about that,” he wrote in a 2017 Facebook post describing the horrific abuse by the then-28-year-old teacher. “My father and I were struggling at home and I could use a positive male role model.
“Within a few months and by the end of fifth grade there was a lot of touching,” he wrote.
The mental and physical abuse continued until 9th grade when Malvin’s parents stepped in and ended the relationship.
After the 2022 judgement, people would ask Malvin if he got closure.
“It never has felt that way,” he said. “You’re just picking these old wounds, and the trial was very difficult and challenging and emotional.
“Justice, a little bit for me, is using the legal system to do as much as you can, like Savage did lose this place, his name is mud … I’m just gonna do anything and everything I can do.”
Until then, his goal is helping those who have been abused and their families.
“To all the people who still are within a statute of limitations — it’s tough out there,” Malvin said. “You may not get any money, this is what it looks like in real life.”
Savage and his lawyers did not immediately respond to messages from The Post.
