Star of the world of magic, an undisputed figure in Las Vegas for decades, David Copperfield is accused of sexual violence and “inappropriate behavior” by 16 women, according to an investigation published by The Guardian this Wednesday, May 15.
The events reported by the newspaper took place between the late 1980s and 2014. More than half of the women who testified for The Guardian were under 18 years old at the time. Some of them even claim that they were only 15 years old.
Several women claim to have been drugged
Three women in particular accuse David Copperfield, now 67, of drugging them before having sex with them.
“I would never say that if I didn’t really think I was high at the time,” says Gillian (not her first name), who says she agreed to have a drink with the magician after one of his shows in 1993.
Four other women claim to have been victims of touching on stage, or to have been forced to touch the magician during his show. Three of them were teenagers at the time.
Fallon Thornton, now 38, tells The Guardian, for example, that David Copperfield touched her breasts after taking her on stage at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in January 2014.
She believes her testimony was never taken seriously after she reported the incident to hotel-casino management and Las Vegas police. The latter claimed to have closed the case due to “insufficient evidence.”
Previous accusations in 2018
“Anyone who knows David Copperfield will tell you that these recent accusations from a newspaper are exactly the opposite of who David is,” the illusionist’s lawyers responded in a statement to the BBC. “In fact, David is known for taking risks in his career to protect women from powerful predators.”
This is not the first time that the famous illusionist has been the subject of accusations of this nature. In 2018, one of the 16 women who testified for The Guardian, Brittney Lewis, spoke to The Wrap. She had accused David Copperfield of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 1988, when she was 17 years old.
Accusations that the magician had already denied at the time. “For years I have lived with articles that falsely accuse me of lying and atrocious acts, and there are few that report on articles that accuse me, and few of them report how the person who accused me was arrested or my innocence,” he reacted then. . his Twitter account.
Source: BFM TV
