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One of the biggest names in magic and illusions seems to have pulled off yet another trick — but this time, the stage was his New York City penthouse.
David Copperfield moved into Manhattan’s Galleria building in 1997, purchasing the building’s four-story penthouse. He seemed to slip into residency at the building relatively quietly, with only whisperings at first of his presence. But decades and multiple lawsuits later, Copperfield asserted his presence with a bang in the form of wreaking havoc on the building — and, unceremoniously, seems to have vanished.
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A lawsuit filed in New York this month alleges that Copperfield abandoned his penthouse in a state of disrepair, leaving the Galleria’s other residents to deal with flooding apartments and common areas below Copperfield’s unit, due to a failed valve the magician neglected to repair.
Copperfield lives in Las Vegas now and performs his “An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion” show more than a dozen times per week. The showman’s attorney in the case told The New York Times that the lawsuit was “nothing but an insurance claim.”
Copperfield reportedly acquired the Galleria penthouse for a bargain, according to a column from The Daily News at the time. The original asking price of the unit was $18 million, which was cut to $11 million. The final sales price was just $7.4 million, according to the lawsuit. After purchasing the apartment, Copperfield transferred ownership to a shell company.
The 16,000-square-foot apartment was originally designed for Stewart R. Mott, the son of a General Motors executive. Mott was a gardening enthusiast and had the penthouse designed with glass walls as well as 10,000 square feet reserved for planting. But as Mott’s ideas for a garden oasis continued to spool out, costs and construction complications also arose, and Mott eventually abandoned the apartment, never having moved in. Another owner occupied the unit for a short period before Copperfield moved in.
Copperfield reportedly filled the expansive space with antique novelties related to magic, as well as old arcade games, according to news reports at the time.
In March 2015, the first major incident took place at the penthouse. A valve in the pump room that helped keep Copperfield’s pool up and running failed, causing severe flooding throughout Copperfield’s apartment as well as more than 30 stories below the unit.
Copperfield’s insurance company sued the company that was in charge of the pool’s upkeep, as did two of Copperfield’s downstairs neighbors. Meanwhile, the pool company sued Copperfield for negligence, while also blaming the valve manufacturer for creating faulty equipment.
Ultimately, the cases were combined and settled confidentially.
During a home tour that Copperfield gave The Wall Street Journal in 2016, all seemed righted — Copperfield showed off all his gadgets and curiosities. But the pool, tellingly, was empty.
That display of fun and games had perhaps been an illusion, however — by 2018, when Copperfield spontaneously appeared at a Galleria board meeting and offered an impromptu tour of his penthouse, the place was a wreck, according to residents.
“It was in disarray, very bad shape,” apartment owner Sholeh Assadi told The NYT. “We all saw. He didn’t care.” In the bathrooms, there was “mildew and mold everywhere,” she added.
According to the new lawsuit, Copperfield ceased to reside in or care for the penthouse shortly after he was seen at that 2018 meeting. Around that time, he terminated employment of a housekeeper, house manager and handyman, all of whom had serviced the unit.
“Rather than moving out in a safe and orderly fashion, Copperfield trashed the unit,” the lawsuit states. “Since then, Copperfield has allowed the unit to devolve into a state of utter disrepair.”
The apartment flooded yet again in December 2023 due to another bad valve located in a maintenance room dedicated to Copperfield’s apartment. The damage, again, extended to floors below the apartment, impacting elevators and common areas.
Photos included in the lawsuit show peeling paint, mold and mildew in the apartment. Repairs cost roughly $3 million, according to building management. The Galleria’s condo board is asking that Copperfield cough up $7.5 million, as well as still-undetermined punitive damages and legal fees.
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