Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women

Copperfield has denied all the allegations against him, including claims that he drugged, groped, and groomed multiple women across several decades.

Famed magician David Copperfield has been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women, with the allegations spanning four decades.

An explosive investigative piece published by The Guardian on Wednesday draws on interviews with more than 100 people and includes claims that Copperfield, 67, drugged three women, groped four women during live performances, spoke on the phone with five teen girls and their families over the years, bought a drink for a 17-year-old girl, and possibly offered NDAs to two women who had previously agreed to make their claims public to The Guardian. Additionally, ex-employees said that Copperfield asked them to approach attractive women at his shows and invite them to join him during or after his performances.

A representative for Copperfield denied the claims in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly. "Everyone that knows David Copperfield will tell you that these recent allegations from one newspaper are the exact opposite of who David is," the statement said. "In fact, David has a record of risking his career to help protect women from powerful predators. Most of these historic accusations have been made before, and all of them are as false now as they were then. David requested the 'evidence' upon which these false allegations claim to rely and this has not been provided. By contrast, whenever US law enforcement has looked into such matters, they have been investigated thoroughly and it has been found that there is simply no case to answer."

The statement added that The Guardian's "characterization is not who David is, and he continues to support anyone who has experienced any form of abuse or discrimination. The movement must succeed, but false accusations must stop for it to flourish. David will be considering the position with his legal team and will take such steps as may be appropriate over these false and scurrilous allegations."

Born David Kotkin and known for splashy illusions like making the Statue of Liberty disappear and walking through the Great Wall of China, Copperfield has faced controversy before. In 2007, he was accused of sexual assault and rape by model Lacey Carroll. Her claims related to an incident on a private island and prompted a two-year FBI investigation that was eventually dropped. Carroll also filed a lawsuit against Copperfield but withdrew it in 2010.

In a 2018 article published by the Wrap, Britney Lewis accused Copperfield of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1998 when she was a 17-year-old model. Copperfield denied both Carroll's and Lewis' allegations.

In The Guardian report, a woman using the pseudonym Gillian claimed that she and her female friend were invited to Copperfield's hotel suite in Las Vegas, where they were each given a glass of sambuca — which she said made her feel "weird, physically weird."

"From then everything was just fuzzy… I literally blacked out for a while, and I don’t do that," Gillian said, adding that she has flashes of memories of Copperfield having sex with her and her friend despite their inability to consent. "Never in my life have I had a time where I don’t consciously remember [a period of time]… I would never just say this to somebody if I didn't truly, honest to God believe that I was drugged at that time."

Additionally, four women alleged to The Guardian that Copperfield groped them after asking them to assist him in segments of his stage performances. Three of the four women were underage at the times of the alleged incidents.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.