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Feds Target Copperfield's House of Tricks
Los Angeles (E! Online) - David Copperfield may not have been able to believe his eyes, but that really was the FBI combing through his Las Vegas warehouse.

A dozen agents from Seattle carted away a computer hard drive, a memory chip from a digital camera and close to $2 million in cash during a late-night raid Wednesday on the famed magician's Sin City storage space, KLAS-TV reports. An FBI spokesperson said that out-of-state agents get involved when tips originate in their area, meaning the warehouse was in some way connected to an investigation that originated in Washington—although what the investigation concerns is now anyone's guess.

After the raid, Copperfield's attorney issued a statement confirming that the search took place. "We understand there is an investigation, [we] are in touch with the investigators, and are respecting the confidentiality of the investigation," lawyer David Chesnoff said.
"We'd like you to respect the confidentiality of the investigation as well," Chesnoff told the reporters, "so disappear."
The FBI's Las Vegas office also told KLAS that agents had made a stop at one of Copperfield's frequent performance spots, the MGM-Grand on the Vegas Strip, where the illusionist is scheduled to appear for a two-week engagement at the Hollywood Theater starting Nov. 15. Once again, the government agency wouldn't go into detail about what authorities were looking for at the hotel, or how it factored into the investigation, but it would confirm that the MGM itself was not the target.

Meanwhile, still remaining in Copperfield's two-story treasure trove is a heady, 80,000-piece mix of collectibles and perception-deceiving devices.

The 51-year-old entertainer, who, according to Forbes, banked $57 million in 2005, keeps, among other things, a stash of vintage sports cars, gadgets, quirky stuff like gargoyle heads and an old electric chair, 15,000 magic books, Houdini memorabilia, posters, playbills, centuries-old documents, and various trick apparatuses in the warehouse he has dubbed the International Museum & Library of the Conjuring Arts. Access to the collection is usually only granted to scholars looking to research and write about the illusionary world, but no disappearances, transferences, levitations, cutting-in-halves or other unexplainable phenomena were reported to have taken place during the raid.

According to Copperfield's Website, he performs more than 500 shows a year all over the world (not all at once—nobody's that good). Before heading back to the MGM-Grand, he'll be bringing his Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Then, after Vegas, it's off to the United Arab Emirates.
Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-10-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=203033