Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women

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.”