David Copperfield Accused of Sexual Assault and Misconduct by 16 Women

Many of the women claimed to have been underaged at the time.

By Ashley Turner

Magician David Copperfield is facing sexual misconduct allegations made by 16 women. The Guardian published an exposé Wednesday about many women who claimed they were underage at the time, and three claimed they had been drugged.

The alleged incidents all took place between the late 1980s and 2014, and over half of the women (some chose to remain anonymous) reported meeting the performer during one of his shows. While performing live, three of the women alleged Copperfield groped them. In another case, a woman alleged Copperfield placed her hand on his butt and squeezed it. Five women claimed Copperfield talked with them and their families over their landline phones.

Through his attorneys, Copperfield, 67, denied all allegations of misconduct and inappropriate behavior, stating that he has "never, ever acted inappropriately with anyone, let alone anyone underage." According to his lawyers, the allegations are "false and entirely without foundation," further pointing out that inappropriate behavior toward women "is the opposite of everything he stands for and works hard for."

Several women interviewed by the Guardian using their real names wanted their claims removed from the story shortly after the outlet approached Copperfield about the allegations. The alleged incidents occurred when one of the women was 15 and the other in her 20s.

In response to the Guardian's question about whether Copperfield has ever offered or paid a settlement to any person who has accused him of sexual misconduct, Copperfield's attorneys told the outlet that the magician "has no intention of indulging what he considers to be a fishing expedition by your journalists."

"Lily," who was around 14 or 15 at the time, told the Guardian that the illusionist groped her breasts during a trick onstage while her father and sister watched, horrified. "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 recounted.

"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." Attorneys for Copperfield said there was no "unlawful touching" involved in the "rope trick" and that it was performed "without any complaint ever being made."

"Gillian" attended Copperfield's show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in the early 1990s when she was in her 20s. A magician's assistant asked Gillian and a female friend if they would join him for a drink after his next show, after she had participated in a trick on stage.

That night, Gillian claimed she and her friend were taken to Copperfield's hotel suite and given a small glass of sambuca. She felt "weird, physically weird" afterward.

"From then, everything was just fuzzy … I literally blacked out for a while, and I don't do that," she said, alleging that she can recall "patches" of Copperfield having sex with her and her friend in his bed during that time period. "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."

Responding to Gillian's allegations, Copperfield's lawyers stated 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." According to Copperfield's lawyers, drugs were and are "not a part of his world."

As a 16-year-old, Katie Ring attended a Copperfield show in the MGM Grand Las Vegas with her family in 2006. Upon selecting her for a trick, the magician allegedly told her to "grab my ass." After putting her hand on his backside, he made her squeeze his butt cheek. He then said, "It's David Copperfield, not David Copa-feel!"

Later, he performed a trick in which he pretended to "impregnate" Ring, and a screen displayed a sonogram of "their baby." Copperfield's attorneys denied her allegations in a statement to the Guardian, saying the term "Cop-a-feel" is "not predatory or malicious and has not been part of our client's act for many years."

According to six former Copperfield employees who worked for him from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s and spoke to Guardian, he often requested that his assistants approach attractive young women in the audience and ask them to join him onstage or after his performances. Ex-staffers claimed the magician regularly invited women into his limousine, hotel room, or penthouse suite. Some former employees, however, told the outlet they never saw any evidence of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior from their boss.

A representative for Copperfield told Page Six following the exposé's release, "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," the statement went on. "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."

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The statement concluded, "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 has been sexually assaulted, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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