Celebrity magician, David Copperfield, accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women

Sixteen women have alleged sexual misconduct by the magician spanning decades.

Celebrity magician, David Copperfield, is facing allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior brought forth by a total of 16 women.

As uncovered in an investigation conducted by the U.K. Guardian newspaper’s U.S. bureau, the allegations involve the illusionist reportedly "drugging three women before he had sexual relations with them, which they felt they were unable to consent to," according to the report. 

Half of the allegations against Copperfield, spanning from the late 1980s to 2014, were made by women asserting they were under 18 years old during their encounters with him, with some claiming they were as young as 15.

The Guardian US is scrutinizing these allegations as part of a series of articles, leveraging interviews with over 100 individuals and analysis of court and police records. 

The investigation highlighted recurring themes among the allegations: numerous women claimed Copperfield promised to aid them in their careers in modeling or the entertainment industry and maintained communication with them and their families.

Copperfield has previously faced accusations of misconduct. 

One of the 16 women, Brittney Lewis, went public in 2018 with claims that he had drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1988 when she was a 17-year-old model. 

Confronted with fresh allegations, Copperfield "denied wrongdoing of any kind" when approached by The Guardian for comment prior to the publication of their investigation.

His legal representatives asserted that Copperfield had "never acted inappropriately with anyone, let alone anyone underage," dismissing the newspaper's claims of inappropriate touching as "not only completely false, but also entirely implausible."

In addition to the accusations, four women claimed that Copperfield groped them or engaged in sexual behavior with them during live performances on stage, three of whom were teenagers at the time.

One woman reported that Copperfield squeezed her breast after inviting her on stage during a January 2014 performance at MGM Grand casino-hotel. 

Despite reporting the incident to MGM and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the case was closed due to "insufficient evidence," according to records.

Copperfield’s legal team also alleged that law enforcement informed them at the time that video footage of the performance in question did not show him touching "the chest area" of any participant. 

Despite requests, neither Copperfield’s legal team, Las Vegas police, nor MGM shared the footage with The Guardian.

MGM, where Copperfield has performed regularly since 2000, declined to comment on the alleged 2014 incident or other accusations against Copperfield.

Copperfield also came under scrutiny due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the indicted child sex trafficker, who died in prison in 2019.