16 women accuse David Copperfield of sexual misconduct

David Copperfield, the famed Las Vegas magician, faces allegations of sexual misconduct from 16 women. The news was reported by The Guardian US, which sourced the claims from court and police documents, as well as interviews with more than 100 people.

The allegations against the 67-year-old magician range from the late 1980s through 2014. Over half of the women say they were under 18 at the time, with some saying they were as young as 15. (The Guardian notes that Copperfield may not have known their ages at the time.)

Three of the women alleged that they were drugged by the illusionist before he assaulted them. In four other cases, the women claimed Copperfield had groped them or made them touch him in a sexual way during a live performance onstage. Three said they were teenagers at the time of the incident; one said her family witnessed the magician grope her breasts from the audience when she was just 15. In response to these claims, lawyers for Copperfield say that any allegations that he touched women inappropriately are “not only completely false but also entirely implausible.” They also added that drugs are “not a part of his world” and there have been “numerous false claims” made against him.

Brittney Lewis, one of the women interviewed by The Guardian, went public in 2018 with allegations that Copperfield had drugged and assaulted her in 1988, when she was 17. At the time, Copperfield defended himself on Twitter/X, writing: “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.”

A representative for Copperfield again denied these latest allegations in a lengthy statement (via The Hollywood Reporter):

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.

The Guardian also notes that Copperfield was one of the high-profile figures named in connection to Jeffrey Epstein when his court documents were unsealed in January, but that “the inclusion of Copperfield’s name does not mean he committed a crime.” “Our client did not know about Epstein’s horrific crimes,” his lawyers said in a statement. “Like the rest of the world, he learned about it from the press.”