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Epstein Accuser Suggests David Copperfield Knew Young Girls Were Paid to Recruit Others
David Copperfield
This was originally going to be an article about Copperfield's upcoming moon vanish stunt. Then, new details about Copperfield's ties to Epstein were unsealed last night. It seemed unfair to share One Ahead's original article without mentioning the accusations. Simply acknowledging them didn't feel right, either.
There is an element of this story which feels tied to his moon-vanish stunt. Would new details about Copperfield's knowledge of Epstein's predatory behaviours be getting quite so much public scrutiny if he wasn't about to stage a huge stunt? Well, maybe it should. It sucks, the whole thing sucks, and on balance, I think you deserve to know about it – so I'm rewriting this article last minute.
I certainly can't begin to imagine what must be happening in the desert somewhere today, as a billionaire magician is perhaps rehearsing his moon vanish while fending off thousands of requests for comment from news journalists (he has so far not responded to any publication).
Copperfield is undoubtedly a titan of magic. He dominates the Las Vegas market and is responsible for so much of how magic is perceived on a global stage. Many people reading this article will have gotten into magic after seeing David Copperfield performing his illusions – myself included.
I'm reading the news stories, and I feel myself wanting to ignore and not write about them. But I think we must, and we sort of owe it to ourselves as magicians to understand what may or may not have happened. We might not need to draw conclusions, but we should certainly be informed.
Last night, 946 pages of court documents from a 2015 lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell were unsealed - the case was settled in 2017. In details from a deposition, we're told about a dinner with Epstein, Copperfield, and one of Epstein's alleged victims.
Johanna Sjoberg said in the deposition that she met David Copperfield at a dinner at Jeffery Epstein's home. Sjoberg has previously alleged that Prince Andrew touched her without consent at Epstein's mansion.
At the dinner with Copperfield and Epstein, Sjoberg said two others were present: Sarah Kellen, who worked for Epstein, and another girl.
Sjoberg said the girl "seemed young" and that she "thought she could be younger than college age" but had to assume for her own sanity that she was a daughter of one of Epstein's friends.
Sjoberg said Copperfield "did some magic tricks" at the dinner.
When asked by the attorney whether Sjoberg observed Copperfield to be a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, the alleged victim said yes.
The attorney then asked Sjoberg whether Copperfield ever discussed with her Jeffery's involvement with younger girls. Sjoberg answered:
“He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls.”
This is perhaps the most important revelation from the deposition. While many celebrities have been revealed to have ties with Epstein, this marks a rarer instance in which the celebrity is alleged to have known details about Epstein's actions.
Journalists make note that Copperfield has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection to Epstein. Sjoberg worked for Epstein from 2001 to 2006 but hasn't provided a specific date for when she met Copperfield.
It was already known that prior to Epstein's 2008 sex trafficking conviction, Copperfield frequently visited Epstein's Palm Beach mansion.
And Copperfield has been accused of wrongdoing elsewhere before. In 2018, a former model accused the magician of drugging and sexually assaulting her when she was only 17 years old in 1988.
Brittney Lewis was competing in a modelling contest around that time with Copperfield as one of the judges. He invited her to one of his California shows when she was still a minor. Lewis claimed Copperfield asked her grandmother for permission to travel there.
Lewis told her best friend from high school, her husband, and her ex-husband about the alleged incident. After the magic show, Lewis said she allegedly saw Copperfield pour something into her drink while the two were at a bar.
“I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘Oh, I’m just sharing,’” Lewis said. Lewis said she took a few sips and blacked out.
“I remember my clothes being taken off,” she said. “He was kissing my face, and then I remember him starting to go down my body with his face, and then, as soon as he started going down, I just completely blacked out.”
Lewis claimed she woke up the next morning, and Copperfield said “nothing happened” as she “was underage”.
Copperfield allegedly made her write a letter saying she was okay after the incident allegedly took place.
In 2007, Copperfield was also accused of sexual assault by former beauty queen Lacey Caroll, but the case was dropped with no official explanation.
Copperfield's rep did not comment on the 2018 allegations, but the illusionist released a lengthy Tweet before the report with Lewis' allegations was first published. It reads:
The #MeToo movement is crucial and long overdue. We all want people who feel they've been victims of sexual misconduct to be empowered, and as a rule we should listen, so more will feel comfortable coming forward. It's important. But imagine what it's like, believing in the movement, and having also been falsely accused publicly in the past. To have your life and your family's life turned upside down. Three years and hundreds of stories reported on a false claim investigated by the FBI, where the end result was that the accuser was caught by law enforcement making the same false claim about another man. The proof was on tape. The accuser was arrested and charged. I've lived with years of news reports about me being accused of fabricated, heinous acts, with few telling the story of the accuser getting arrested, and my innocence. Knowing that false accusers can negatively impact the believability of others and are a true disservice to those who have been victims of sexual misconduct, I didn't draw attention to it. So while I weather another storm, I want the movement to continue to flourish. Always listen, and consider everything carefully, but please for everyone's sake don't rush to judgement.
It's only this far into rewriting what was originally just an article about the unusual Tweets Copperfield has been posting in the run-up to his big moon stunt that I realise perhaps the moon stunt won't happen now.
Copperfield's "Largest Illusion Ever" is due to air in February and is billed as a collaboration with Save the Children, a non-government organisation with the goal of improving the lives of children worldwide.
"If one person can make the moon disappear from the sky, imagine how together we can make poverty, hunger, and danger disappear for children on Earth,” David said, "And I know that Save the Children works incredibly hard to try and make that a reality."
I made note of this when Copperfield announced the stunt at the end of 2023. I presumed that this additional charitable flare was simply that, a nice cherry on the top of his stunt – a goodwill gesture to giftwrap his new illusion in. I also thought the above quote from Copperfield sounded a little bizarre from a man Forbes reports as making between $40-65 million every year.
Whilst most billionaires launch their rockets into space, I suppose it only makes sense for Copperfield to vanish the moon to... help improve the lives of children?
What I didn't expect at the time the stunt was first announced was how Copperfield's decision to partner with a children's organisation might result in the entire moon illusion getting cancelled.
Safe to assume that somewhere right now, there is a team of people at Save the Children, along with a team at the network intending to air the illusion, wondering if they can really continue to collaborate with a performer who, weeks before the stunt in aid of children worldwide, is being reported to have spent much time with Epstein and was perhaps aware young girls were being paid to recruit others.
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