David Copperfieldhe famous American magicianfaces accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct by 16 women.
According to an investigation by the American newspaper The Guardianpublished this Wednesday, more than 50% of the accusations come from women who declared that they were under 18 years of age at the time of the alleged incidents.
Even, some claimed to be only 15 years oldalthough it is suggested that he may not have been aware of their ages.
Three of them accuse him of having drugged them to have sexual relations, so they could not give their consent.
The famous 67-year-old illusionist has so far denied all accusations spanning from the late 1980s to 2014, according to the American edition of the British media.
To prepare this report, the newspaper conducted interviews with at least 100 people and examined court and police records.
The investigation found that some of the accusers claimed to have known Copperfield through his work as one of the most successful artists in the world.
Some women agreed to be named in the articles of The Guardianwhile others established the condition of being quoted anonymously, omitting their surnames.
Copperfield’s lawyers told the newspaper that He has never acted inappropriately with anyone.and much less with minors.
They also stated that a “truthful” description of the magician would describe him for his “kindness, shyness and respectful treatment of men and women.”
They pointed out that the illusionist has even encouraged women to report and tell their stories of alleged abuse.
Lastly, they pointed out that In the past Copperfield was the victim of numerous false complaints.
Brittney Lewis is one of 16 women allegedly abused by the illusionist. However, her story is not new, since since 2018 She accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her..
According to Lewis, the event occurred in 1988, when she was a model of just 17 years old. The accusations were published in The Wrapan entertainment news website, and were denied by Copperfield.
Similar pattern reported by Gillian who claimed that she and a friend were drugged and sexually abused, without being able to give consent.
Gillian’s accusations were refuted by Copperfield’s lawyers who further alleged that claims or complaints of this type had been made against him at the venues where he performed at the time.
Four other complaints are from women who claimed that the illusionist had groped them or forced them to touch him in a sexual manner during live performances on stage.
Three of them were even teenagers at the time of the alleged incidents.
The magician’s legal representatives denied these accusations stating that they were “completely false and implausible”.
One woman who did formally file an accusation was Fallon Thornton38 years old.
She declared to The Guardian that in January 2014, at the MGM Grand casino hotel, Copperfield squeezed her breast after calling her on stage during a performance.
Thornton reported the incident to the hotel and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, records show, but The authorities closed the case due to lack of evidence.
On this occasion, Copperfield’s lawyers argued that video footage of the performance Thornton attended did not show that the magician had committed the sexual assault.
However, Neither Copperfield’s lawyers, nor the Las Vegas police, nor MGM shared the images of the performance con The Guardiandespite requests.
The entertainment and gaming conglomerate where Copperfield has performed regularly since 2000 even declined to comment on the alleged 2014 incident or other allegations against the illusionist.
