Federal Judge’s Son Stored Illegal Sex Tapes In Father’s Home, DA Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY – A 51-year-old man accused of filming his sexual encounters with numerous women without their consent pleaded guilty to felony charges on Tuesday, according to a report in Gothamist.

Daniel McAvoy was indicted in Sept. 2022 on 29 counts of unlawful surveillance and is accused of filming four women on several occasions at various apartments on the Upper East Side.

During an investigation, more than 150 DVDs with “hand-written labels that included dozens of women’s names and specific sex acts in pornographic terms” were reportedly unearthed at the home of McAvoy’s father, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy.

Judge McAvoy, now 86, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate in 1986. He has not been accused of or linked to any wrongdoing.

Civil Suit Reveals More Details

A Jane Doe involved in a decade-long “on and off” relationship with McAvoy is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in a separate civil action.

“During the time they were involved,” her complaint reads, “McAvoy presented some behaviors that Jane Doe realized – in retrospect – were bizarre.”

McAvoy “never allowed” the woman to take pictures of him, and insisted that their dates happen “only” at his home, according to the complaint.

The two “never went out in public together,” and McAvoy “went to great lengths to make himself unreachable at times, even…[claiming] his father...had kidney issues and that he was the kidney donor and needed to be ‘on call.’”

Although the woman claims she “never” gave McAvoy permission to record her during their sexual encounters, McAvoy “demanded” she send him “images and videos of herself as a test of obedience and loyalty,” which she did, "repeatedly [asking] that he keep them private," according to the complaint.

The mother of two says she broke off her relationship with McAvoy in Feb. 2021. She didn’t learn of the secret recordings until she was contacted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in July 2022.

At the D.A.’s office, she “viewed a sexual video depicting herself…which was surreptitiously recorded by [McAvoy] in his home in or around 2019,” according to the civil suit.

It was the first time she had learned that McAvoy had secretly recorded their sexual encounters, she maintains.

Numerous attempts to serve McAvoy papers at several Yorkville addresses proved fruitless, according to court records, and it appears he was eventually successfully served via certified mail sent to his father’s home.

Toward the end of October, McAvoy's attorneys argued against the woman's request to use a "Jane Doe" pseudonym, claiming her name has already been publicly disclosed in related court documents and that she fails to meet the legal standards for proceeding anonymously.

Patch contacted McAvoy’s attorneys Isabelle Kirshner and Wayne Gosnell of Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder LLP and will update this story if we hear back.

Jail Time?

Returning to the criminal case, it appears McAvoy could avoid jail time, according to Gothamist, following a decision by Justice Ellen Biben to allow him to enter an “open plea,” which means he will go free while completing a year of court-ordered treatment.

Assistant District Attorney Danielle Turcotte objected to that decision, and said in court that prosecutors believe McAvoy deserves jail time.

“He is an over-50-year-old man who purportedly has a master’s degree and is self-employed with adequate resources,” Turcotte reportedly said. “He made this decision to violate the trust of his sexual partners countless times over the last fifteen years. [He] made this decision over and over and over again for purely selfish motives and without any regard for the women.”