Legendary magician David Copperfield stands accused today of sexual misconduct by no less than 16 women, according to a devastating investigation published by The Guardian.
More than half of the women the British paper spoke to were underage at the time.
Among the most shocking allegations are claims that the 67-year-old performer drugged his involuntary partners, leaving them unable to consent. Others were victims of more commons forms of sexual harassment or “groomed.”
The meticulous report took five years to compile.
The Daily Beast has more:
It's not the first time the magician has faced allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2018, Brittney Lewis went public to allege that Copperfield drugged her and then sexually assaulted her when she was a 17-year-old model in 1988—an allegation he vehemently denied. “I've lived with years of news reports about me being accused of fabricated, heinous acts, with few telling the story of the accuser getting arrested, and my innocence,” he said in a statement at the time.
Facing fresh allegations this year, Copperfield's lawyers offered a similar statement to The Guardian. His attorneys asserted he “never acted inappropriately with anyone, let alone anyone underage,” adding that claims of inappropriate touching were “not only completely false, but also entirely implausible.”
Four of Copperfield's accusers alleged they were groped or were coaxed into touching the entertainer “in a sexual way during live performances on stage,” The Guardian reported. Family members for one onstage model told the newspaper they witnessed him grope their loved one's breasts without consent.
Fallon Thornton, now 38, told the paper that Copperfield also squeezed her breast on stage after she was called up from the crowd during a January 2014 performance at the MGM Grand. She said she reported the alleged assault to Las Vegas cops, but nothing came of it after they said there was insufficient evidence.
A new accuser, The Guardian report calls “Gillian,” told the publication that she “honest to God believes” she and a friend were drugged by Copperfield before having nonconsensual sex with him. Gillian's encounter allegedly happened in 1993, when she and her friend agreed to meet Copperfield for a drink after one of his shows.
Another woman, who goes by the pseudonym Carla, claims Copperfield started grooming her when she was 15. Copperfield's advances included late night phone calls and expensive gifts. Once she turned 18, she supposedly lost her virginity to him.
Copperfield's name previously came up in unsealed court documents on high-profile individuals affiliated with sexual predator and alleged human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
His lawyers say the allegations are “false and entirely without foundation.”
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