For its next trick, the FBI will be pulling David Copperfield out of their hat.
A federal grand jury in Seattle is investigating a young woman's allegations that the veteran illusionist raped, assaulted and threatened her at his private Bahamian island in July, after meeting and grooming her at a Washington state show last January.
Copperfield's lawyer, the Las Vegas-based David Chesnoff, has declined to comment specifically on the grand jury probe. Instead, he reiterated an earlier statement that his client "has never forced himself on anyone."
No indictment or criminal charges have yet been filed against the magician.
According to the Seattle Times, the 21-year-old woman, whose identity has yet to be released, said she and her family were approached by members of Copperfield's entourage almost immediately upon entering the venue of a Jan. 25 performance. Per federal law-enforcement officials, the woman said she was then led to special seats and made a part of the 51-year-old's stage presentation.
The woman, an aspiring model, told federal investigators that Copperfield promised to help forward her career, per the Times, and, after months of exchanging emails, he invited her to his $50 million private Bahamian retreat on Musha Cay. She claimed that the illusionist assured her there would be other guests at the sprawling 150-acre resort, however, upon arriving at the island—accessible only by charter plane then private boat—she realized they would be the only two people on the island, the newspaper reports.
The woman told the FBI that while on the island Copperfield raped her and struck her during her two-day stay and, while escorting her back to a private plane at the end of the sojourn, threatened her, warning her not to tell anyone about the incident, according to the Times.
The woman did not heed Copperfield's warning and told her family upon arriving back in Seattle, the newspaper says, citing federal officials. She was reportedly treated at a local hospital, where a rape kit was assembled and some of her clothes were taken into evidence.
According to the Times, the woman went to the Seattle Police Department with her tale (the police report has not been released). But the police were unable to take any action in the case because they do not have jurisdiction to investigate any possible crime that took place in another country.
Then the Seattle branch of the FBI, however, got involved after the woman went to the U.S. Attorney's Office with her case.
Earlier this month at the behest of the Seattle branch, the Las Vegas arm of the FBI conducted a raid on Copperfield's Sin City warehouse, carting away a computer hard drive, a memory chip from a digital camera and nearly $2 million in cash.
Last week, Copperfield scrapped a planned tour of Southeast Asia, indefinitely postponing a series of dates. Chesnoff claimed the cancellations had nothing to do with the investigation.