Magician David Copperfield has been accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women, according to an investigation released Wednesday.
The claims include that more than half the women were under 18 at the time, that at least three of them were drugged, and that many were groped while onstage with the magician, according to an investigation by the Guardian.
The incidents span from “the late 1980s to 2014,” and one of the allegations surfaced in 2018 in the wake of the #MeToo movement. At the time, a woman named Brittney Lewis accused Copperfield of drugging and raping her in 1988 when she was 17, according to the outlet. Another woman the Guardian talked to, “Gillian,” accused Copperfield of engaging in the same behavior in 1993.
Four women accused Copperfield of groping them onstage during various shows, and one woman, “Carla,” said that she met Copperfield when she was 15 and that she felt “groomed,” having been sent gifts and tickets to shows before starting a consensual sexual relationship when she turned 18. Copperfield’s lawyers told the outlet that the relationship was entirely consensual and that he “strongly denies any suggestion of grooming or any other impropriety.”
Copperfield was also one of the people mentioned in court documents involving Jeffrey Epstein, though Copperfield’s lawyers denied to the outlet that Copperfield had ever regularly associated with Epstein, and there have been no accusations tied to Epstein’s crimes against the magician.
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Copperfield’s lawyers denied the accusations fully and pointed out that their client has never been charged with a crime, according to the report.
Copperfield’s lawyers told the Guardian that he “never acted inappropriately with anyone, let alone anyone underage” and that any depiction of him should reflect his “kindness, shyness and treatment of men and women with respect.”
