Magician David Copperfield has been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women.
In an exposé published Wednesday by the Guardian, many of the women claimed they were underage at the time, and three alleged they were drugged.
All of the alleged incidents took place between the late 1980s and 2014, and more than half of the women — several chose to remain anonymous — said they met the performer during his shows.
Three of the women claimed Copperfield groped them onstage during live performances. In another case, a woman alleged Copperfield took her hand and placed it on his butt, forcing her to squeeze it.
Five of the women claimed Copperfield spoke on the phone with them and their families when he would call their landlines.
David Copperfield to attempt replacing missing star on original Star-Spangled Banner
David Copperfield escapes financial responsibility for tourist’s injuries
Closing arguments set for David Copperfield negligence case
Via his attorneys, Copperfield, now 67, denied every allegation of misconduct and inappropriate behavior, insisting that he has “never, ever acted inappropriately with anyone, let alone anyone underage.”
His lawyers called the claims “false and entirely without foundation,” adding that inappropriate behavior against women “is the opposite of everything he stands for and works hard for.”
Soon after the Guardian approached Copperfield with questions about the allegations, two women who had been interviewed by the outlet using their real names said they wanted their claims removed from the story.
One of the women was 15 years old at the time of the alleged incident; the other was in her 20s.
Asked whether Copperfield has ever offered or paid settlements to anyone who has accused him of sexual misconduct, his attorneys told the Guardian that the magician “has no intention of indulging what he considers to be a fishing expedition by your journalists.”
“Carla” told the outlet she met Copperfield in 1991 after she was called up to participate in one of his shows in Georgia. She was just shy of 16 at the time. She felt he “groomed” her, even giving her a Valentine’s Day gift with an attached note that read, “In 2 years I will be back.”
He allegedly kept his promise, and Carla claimed Copperfield later took both her oral virginity and penetrative virginity.
“I was a young schoolgirl infatuated with a man who was famous, and I think he used that to benefit him,” she said. “Why would he continue to reach out to me through those years if he wasn’t planning on pouncing as soon as I turned 18?”
Copperfield’s lawyers denied that he groomed Carla and said the two had a “consensual relationship.”
“Lily,” who was 14 or 15 at the time, claimed to the Guardian that the illusionist groped her breasts onstage while performing a trick in front of her father and sister, who confirmed the story and said they looked on in horror.
“He had me turn around, and he was behind me with his arms around me, and both of us were holding a rope … out front,” Lily recalled.
“While I was holding the rope, his forearms were going up and down on my chest, pretty hard … while he was talking and performing the trick. I kind of spaced out and froze. I felt really gross and embarrassed.”
Copperfield’s attorneys denied that the “rope trick” includes any “unlawful touching” and claimed the trick has been performed “without any complaint ever being made.”
“Gillian” was in her 20s when she attended one of Copperfield’s shows at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in the early 1990s. After Gillian was picked to participate in a trick onstage, she and her female friend were asked by one of the magician’s assistants if they would join him for a drink after his next show.
Later that night, Gillian claimed she and her friend were taken to Copperfield’s hotel suite and each given a small glass of sambuca. Soon after, Gillian said she felt “weird, physically weird.”
“From then, everything was just fuzzy … I literally blacked out for a while, and I don’t do that,” she said, alleging that she remembers “patches” of Copperfield having sex with her and her friend in his bed.
“I am 56 years old now,” Gillian told the Guardian. “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.”
Copperfield’s lawyers denied Gillian’s allegations and claimed that “no such claims or complaints were ever made about him to Caesars Palace — where he then had a residency — or elsewhere in relation to such alleged misconduct.” His lawyers added that drugs were/are “not a part of his world.”
In 1996, “Olivia” from the UK was 17 when she attended a Copperfield show in ontario with her mother and brother. She told the Guardian she was selected to participate in a trick onstage and that the performer put his arm around her while holding her hand.
She alleged that he then ran his fingers “between my legs from the back” and stroked upward before he “groped” the “area between the anus and the vagina” over her clothes. She said she “totally froze” and recalled hearing a woman in the front row say to another woman, “Did he touch her?”
Olivia reported the alleged sexual assault to cops in London, who passed it on to Hamilton Police, who told the Guardian that “the file was closed with the potential to be reopened at a later date.”
In 2006, when Katie Ring was 16, she and her family attended a Copperfield show at the MGM Grand in Vegas. After the magician selected her to participate in a trick, he allegedly instructed her to “grab my ass.” He then allegedly placed her hand on his backside and made her “squeeze his butt cheek,” after which he said, “It’s David Copperfield, not David Cop-a-feel!”
He later performed a trick in which he pretended to “impregnate” Ring, and a sonogram of “their baby” appeared on a screen.
Copperfield’s attorneys denied her allegations made to the Guardian and said the use of the term “Cop-a-feel” was “not predatory or malicious and has not been part of our client’s act for many years.”
In 2014, Fallon Thornton, then 28, was picked to join Copperfield onstage at MGM. She claimed he held her hand as he led her to the stage, and “with his other hand, he groped my breast. Like, full on squeezed.”
“I was in shock and disbelief … like, did he really just do that in front of people? Did someone see that?” she told the Guardian, adding that she reported the alleged incident to the resort and casino. She said MGM representatives were initially “receptive” but that she eventually “didn’t hear much from them.”
Thornton also reported the alleged incident to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who allegedly refused to show her a video of the performance, which they allegedly had. Las Vegas police told the Guardian that Thornton’s case was closed in 2014 for “insufficient evidence.”
Copperfield’s lawyers said it was “untenable” that he would have groped a woman in front of a live audience.
Nicole Ehinger was 17 when she attended a Copperfield show in Indiana in 1992. After the show, the illusionist took her to a nightclub, where he allegedly touched her leg at least 10 times and rubbed his leg against hers.
Copperfield’s attorneys denied Ehinger’s claims made to the Guardian and added, “We note as a matter of law that the legal age of consent in Indiana is 16.”
Six former Copperfield employees from the early 1990s to mid-2000s claimed to the Guardian that he often asked his assistants to approach attractive young women from the audience and invite them to come up onstage or join him after his shows.
These ex-staffer claimed the magician regularly had the women join him in his limousine, hotel room or penthouse suite.
However, a few other former employees told the outlet they never saw any indications that their boss engaged in sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior.
Following the release of the exposé, a representative for Copperfield told Page Six, “Everyone that knows David Copperfield will tell you that these recent allegations from one newspaper are the exact opposite of who David is. 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 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.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
