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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Matt Watts

Jeffrey Epstein files: David Copperfield 'had dinner with alleged victim'

Illusionist David Copperfield had dinner with an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein at one of the late paedophile’s homes and asked her if she knew girls were being paid to recruit other girls, according to unsealed court documents.

Johanna Sjoberg testified that she had met the magician when directly asked by lawyer Sigrid McCawley in a May 2016 deposition.

Sjoberg, now a hairdresser living in Florida, has previously said disgraced financier Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving a 20 year sentence for sex trafficking, recruited her to provide massages for Epstein in 2001 when she was at college. 

“Someone called me from the house and said that he would be there, and if I wanted to come have dinner, then I could meet him,” she said. “Did you observe David Copperfield to be a friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s?” Ms McCawley asked, to which the alleged victim said yes.

“He questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls,” Ms Sjoberg said.

Copperfield, 67, has not commented on the allegations.

The illusionist is among a string of high profile names who have been in the court documents related to multi-millionaire Epstein that have been released to the public. Inclusion on the list does not indicate any wrongdoing.The names of more than 170 people who were either associates, friends or victims of Epstein are being made public following a judge's order last month,

The documents are related to a defamation lawsuit filed in 2015 by Virginia Giuffre, who says she was abused and trafficked by Epstein.

Ms Giuffre brought the defamation case against British socialite Maxwell, who supplied the financier with underage girls. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after or sex trafficking young girls for him.

Epstein was accused of luring underage girls to his homes under the guise of giving him massages before sexually abusing them. However, he killed himself in a New York prison as he awaited trial for sex trafficking charges in 2019.

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