Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual abuse by 16 women

David Copperfield has been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women. Half of them say they were underage when he allegedly sexually harassed or groped them.

The Guardian published a detailed report on Wednesday after speaking to more than 100 people, including former employees, who claimed Copperfield instructed them to approach young women at his shows. The alleged incidents occurred over four decades, from the 1980s to 2014, according to the report.

Three of Copperfield’s accusers also claimed that the magician drugged them before their non-consensual sexual encounters.

HuffPost has asked representatives of the magician for comment.

A woman named “Carla” claimed that Copperfield gave her his phone number for her 15th birthday and a teddy bear for Valentine’s Day. When she was 16, he sent her a message, obtained by the Guardian, that said: “I’ll be back in two years.”

Carla said she was only 17 when Copperfield invited her into his limousine and pushed her head towards his crotch. She told The Guardian she was “not forced” to perform oral sex but felt “uncomfortable” – as it was her first time.

Carla said they had penetrative sex when she was 18 and believes she was manipulated. Copperfield’s lawyers denied that the magician manipulated Carla and said their relationship was consensual.

“I was a young schoolgirl and infatuated with a famous man and I think he took advantage of that,” she told The Guardian.

Another woman, identified as “Gillian,” claimed that Copperfield invited her and a friend backstage for a drink from the audience at one of his Las Vegas shows in the 1990s. Gillian said she was then handed a glass of Sambuca, which made her feel “weird, physically weird.”

Gillian added that she felt “foggy” before passing out. She said she remembered waking up to Copperfield having sex with her.

“I’m 56 years old now,” she told the outlet. “Never in my life has there been a time that I don’t consciously remember (a period of time)… I would never tell anyone that unless I truly and honestly believed that I was on drugs at the time.”

The revelation said Copperfield also groped four women during live performances and made phone calls to five teenagers and their families.

Copperfield’s lawyers denied the drugging charge and said it was “indefensible” that he groped a member of the audience during a performance.

“Anyone who knows David Copperfield will tell you that these recent allegations from a newspaper are the exact opposite of David,” a representative for the magician told ET in response to the report. “In fact, David risked his career to protect women from powerful sexual predators.”

The spokesman also called the allegations “false and defamatory” and claimed Copperfield was requesting evidence in the matter while he “considers the situation with his legal team.”

Copperfield has previously been accused of sexual misconduct.

The illusionist was accused in 2007 of luring and sexually assaulting a former beauty pageant model to his private island in the Bahamas; the case was investigated by the FBI. In 2018, he was also accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a former teenage model.

Copperfield remains the highest-paid artist in his field with a reported net worth of $875 million.

A former assistant noted Wednesday that Copperfield regularly met with young women.

“There were always women coming and going,” the former employee, who only gave her name as Valerie, told The Guardian. “I never saw anyone come who didn’t want to come, but I felt like the power dynamic just seemed very wrong. Like these were very young women.”

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National online hotline for sexual assault cases or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center website.

Related…