David Copperfield -- Investigated by FBI

76. This is how ridiculous rumors get started. The two million alone shouid be a major clue it is most likely tax evasion. The FBI invested me for my ex husband tax evasion for 5 years. The seized every thing we had. Bank acct's, books, computers, everything. I turned him in and they came after me. Warning for any wives thinking of that!

Posted at 8:59AM on Oct 19th 2007 by krktoday

77. TMZ- So basically you don't know anything. Do you have any job openings at TMZ? B/c if this passes for journalism @ TMZ, I can do that no problem!!

I like Copperfields last trick- the one where he disappeared for 10 years and no one cared!!

Posted at 9:50AM on Oct 19th 2007 by Partier2

78. No this is a news worthy interesting story..but lets pay so much attention to Brit running over someones foot again and botox..geeezzz

Posted at 10:08AM on Oct 19th 2007 by Jenn

79. dont know but my (not knowing) thought / guess... being that a computer was conviscated investigation has obviously been on going. i think the government can access, through many avenues, actions people are participating in and who may be suspicious ???? dont know ???? Think about it !!!

Posted at 9:57AM on Oct 19th 2007 by cynnamon

80. my money is on agent muldor leading the investigation into copperfield having a deal with the devil

Posted at 10:18AM on Oct 19th 2007 by eric

81. I bet its child porn.

Posted at 10:18AM on Oct 19th 2007 by Renegade Alien

82. when the FBI takes your Hard Drive , you know your hidding something.( like child porn).

Posted at 10:42AM on Oct 19th 2007 by Renegade Alien

83. He's a creep and a weirdo and I can't wait for this to be brought out.

Posted at 10:27AM on Oct 19th 2007 by NicKnack

84. FBI agents have seized nearly $2 million in cash from a Las Vegas warehouse owned by illusionist David Copperfield, local media reports said on Thursday.

The agents also took a computer hard drive and a memory chip from a digital camera system during Wednesday's late-night operation. The reports said the raid stems from an investigation in Seattle.

"We understand there is an investigation, are in touch with the investigators, and are respecting the confidentiality of the investigation," Copperfield's attorney David Chesnoff said in a statement cited by Las Vegas broadcasters.

The local CBS affiliate KLAS-TV quoted a source as saying the cash was stashed in a safe and that agents took the cash.

Copperfield, 51, whose real name is David Kotkin, is famed for stunts such as making the Statue of Liberty disappear and walking through the Great Wall of China. He is a regular performer at the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas.

Posted at 10:27AM on Oct 19th 2007 by Renegade Alien

85. Is there ANY connection between Copperfield and Pierce Brosnan???

Posted at 11:08AM on Oct 19th 2007 by curious

86. The world's greatest magician has made the Statue of Liberty disappear, walked through the Great Wall of China and levitated across the Grand Canyon. What chance did a couple of lowly purse snatchers have against him?
"This was in April," says David Copperfield, sounding tired over the phone on an early winter morning. "It was late, I was walking home from dinner with a couple of girls who work for me, after having done a show at the theatre. A car pulled up and I noticed it on the street, and I signed some autographs. Then another car pulled up behind us and a couple of guys jumped out with guns, pointed them at our faces and said, 'Give us your stuff. We're not kidding around.'
"And so, the girls gave up everything they had, and I didn't. I had lots of valuable stuff on me, unfortunately, but I showed my pockets and my hands to be empty. And so they took almost everything the girls had, except for a pen and a paper in one of their purses. As they were pulling away, I wrote down the license plate number of the car, and within a half-hour, police helicopters found it in an alley, pulled up on them and recovered all our stuff. The robbers were just convicted and they are now going to jail."
It's all in a day's work for someone who had mastered sleight of hand by puberty.
Born David Seth Kotkin 50 years ago, at age 12 Copperfield was the youngest person ever to be admitted into the Society of American Magicians. By 16, he was already teaching a course in magic at New York University, and by 19 had adopted the "Copperfield" stage name.
"I did it just because I was good at magic," he says. "I was good at magic and I sucked at everything else, so it kept my interest alive. The other kids around me gave me approval, so that motivated me to keep doing it.
"Even today, I like what it does for people, I like how it moves people. The new show is very emotional, it's called An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion. And it's intimate in that it involves people's actual dreams and nightmares, and watching people's reactions to that really keeps me going. I just did four shows a day for the past week in Las Vegas, which is why I sound tired, but it's fresh for me because dozens of people are brought up on stage and you never know what to expect."
Copperfield became a household name in the '80s and '90s, when he seemingly had a television special every year, each one more astounding than the last. He says the process of creating a new illusion can take up to two years, as in the case of making the Statue of Liberty disappear, and he says he decided to do that illusion by listening to his audience.
"The show is based on people's dreams coming true," he says. "Nobody dreams about pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but people do dream about winning the lottery, and so I do an illusion about that in my new show."

Creating a new illusion, he says, is all about deciding what you want to do, and then figuring out a way to do it.
"It's reverse engineering, basically," he says. "But it's like writing a song, sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes the music does. Sometimes I'll come up with a great principle and find out a way to use it. It's always a challenge, but sometimes you get blessed with something that just happens to work out perfectly."
A number of illusions worked perfectly for him over his many television specials, but there hasn't been one on since 2001.
Email to a friendPrinter friendly
Font:

"You know something, I owe CBS a bunch of specials, but I'm having too much fun performing live shows," he says. "I did more than 20 specials over 20 years, and I've gotta go back and do one, but I'm just having so much more fun in arena shows, interacting with the audience."

Posted at 10:39AM on Oct 19th 2007 by Renegade Alien

87. You do realize that his warehouse and crew employs something like 35 people. There is nothing pointing to him yet. Just that they are investigating stuff they found at his warehouse.

Posted at 11:14AM on Oct 19th 2007 by buckeye5150

88. The guy is really talented and a great entertainer, but he sure overdoes the "dramatic look" bit. (see photo) Maybe they suspect he stole those eyebrows from Joan Crawford?

Posted at 11:16AM on Oct 19th 2007 by gomez addams

89. maybe it was the pedofile sex tapes i lent him

Posted at 12:18PM on Oct 19th 2007 by pee wee herman

90. hey rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my ass

Posted at 12:16PM on Oct 19th 2007 by bullwinkle