The famous American conjurer David Copperfield is accused of sexual violence by sixteen women, some of whom were minors at the time of the facts they denounce, the British newspaper The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Three of these women assure that the famous magician drugged them before having sexual relations, to which they believe they could not have consented.
The American edition of the British media claims to have spoken to more than 100 people and consulted police and court files during its investigation, which covers a period from the late 1980s to 2014.
Lawyers for David Copperfield, 67, told the newspaper that their client denies any offense and had “never behaved inappropriately with anyone, let alone a minor.”
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The illusionist is notably known for making the Statue of Liberty disappear and having an affair with German model Claudia Schiffer in the 1990s.
In 2018, he was accused of sexual assault by former American model Brittney Lewis. The latter, who also spoke to the newspaper, claims to have been drugged and sexually assaulted three decades earlier when she was a minor.
David Copperfield denied these accusations when they were revealed.
Other women interviewed by The Guardian accuse the magician of touching on stage during his shows.
Another, cited under a pseudonym, claims she met Mr. Copperfield when she was 15.
In subsequent years, he would call her late at night and send her gifts, she said, saying she was “conditioned” as a result. When she turned 18, they had consensual sex, she said.
Mr. Copperfield’s lawyers told the newspaper that the two had a legal, consensual relationship that lasted four years and that the magician “strongly denied any notion of grooming or other misconduct.”
The name of David Copperfield is among those listed in court documents relating to the case of Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who committed suicide in prison in 2019 before he could be tried for sex crimes and trafficking. However, the fact that his name appears there does not imply that he has engaged in illegal or reprehensible behavior.
“Our client knew nothing of Epstein’s appalling crimes,” the conjurer’s lawyers told the Guardian.
Contacted by AFP, Mr. Copperfield’s representatives did not immediately respond.
