Well-known magician David Copperfield, 67, has been accused by 16 women of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour that spanned three decades from the late 1980s to 2014.
Some of the women have said they were under 18 at the time of the incidents.
Three women were allegedly drugged by Copperfield before he had sexual relations with them.
Copperfield denied wrongdoing of any kind, with his lawyers calling the claims "false".
Three women were drugged and assaulted
In an exposé by The Guardian U.S., released on May 15, the news outlet reported that stories have drawn on interviews with more than 100 people and court and police records.
Brittney Lewis had previously went public in 2018 via news outlet The Wrap, alleging that Copperfield had drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1988 when she was a 17-year-old model.
Another woman said she and her friend were drugged and raped by Copperfield, who said she had agreed to meet Copperfield for a drink in 1993 after one of his shows.
Copperfield's lawyers said drugs are “not a part of his world”.
They also said no such claims had been made against him at venues he was performing in at the time.
Four cases where women groped or made to touch Copperfield in sexual way during live performances
There were also four cases where the women — who were teenagers at that time of the incidents — were groped by Copperfield or made to touch him in a sexual way during live performances on stage.
A 15-year-old was groped by her breasts during one of his performances, as claimed by family members who witnessed the incident.
Lawyers for Copperfield said claims of him groping women were "not only completely false but also entirely implausible”.
One women, Fallon Thornton, 38, said during a performance at MGM Grand casino-hotel in January 2014, Copperfield had squeezed her breast after calling her on stage.
Copperfield's lawyers alleged that video footage of the performance that Thornton attended did not show him touching “the chest area” of any participant, which was told to them by Copperfield's team, who learned it from law enforcement at that time.
Footage of the performance were not shared with The Guardian by Copperfield’s lawyers, Las Vegas police nor MGM when requested by the news outlet.
Carla said she now feels she had been "groomed"
Another woman, Carla, which is a pseudonym, said Copperfield began calling her late at night after meeting him at one of his shows in 1991.
She was 15 years old at that time.
She told The Guardian she now feels she had been "groomed", and said Copperfield would send her gifts and tickets to his shows.
She had consensual sex with Copperfield after turning 18.
Copperfield's lawyers said the magician had a wholly and consensual relationship that lasted four years, and he "strongly denies any suggestion of grooming or any other impropriety".
Coppefield's name was in Epstein-related court documents unsealed in January
Copperfield was scrutinised recently for his relation with Jeffrey Epstein, a child sex trafficker who had apparently committed suicide in prison in 2019.
The magician was named in Epstein-related court documents that were unsealed in January.
The inclusion of Copperfield’s name does not mean he committed a crime though.
Copperfield's lawyers said their client had heard a “rumour” about this, but had “no knowledge or belief that anything improper was going on”.
“Our client did not know about Epstein’s horrific crimes. Like the rest of the world, [Copperfield] learned about it from the press,” said Copperfield's lawyers.
Top image via David Copperfield/Facebook