Trust me on this: almost all magicians are weird. I strongly suspect that they tend to be on the “neurodivergent” spectrum (that’s the new politically correct term for autistic: you know my views on linguisitic rebranding), but they have other problems as well, including the tendency to slide into more destructive unethical behavior after building their lives around deceiving people for fun.

Alakazam! Here’s David Copperfield to demonstrate how it’s done!

The famous magician is being sued by the residents of the Galleria, a Midtown Manhattan apartment building, for letting what was once his showcase penthouse condo fall apart right before their eyes. The famous magician bought the space for about 7 million dollars in 1997 and remodeled it to suit his magician-like tastes, as you can see above in a photo from a Wall Street Journal spread almost a decade ago.

Copperfield’s apartment begins on the 54th floor of the Galleria, and on his third floor (and the building’s 56th floor) he added a private lap pool. A pump room was below the pool to keep the water flowing and clean. In 2015, a valve there failed causing water to rush 30 stories down through the apartment building residences below. There were lawsuits all over in the aftermath, and shortly thereafter, Copperfield abandoned the place, spending his time at his estate in Las Vegas, where he performs his magic show, but also at his resort spanning 11 islands in the Bahamas. In 2018 the magician fired the New York housekeeper, house manager and handyman and let the once luxury condo at the Galleria go to seed. There was another flood at the penthouse in December of 2023 that caused damage to the apartments, elevators and common areas below.

Now Copperfield is being sued again by residents. “Rather than moving out in a safe and orderly fashion,” the lawsuit states, “Copperfield trashed the unit. Since then, Copperfield has allowed the unit to devolve into a state of utter disrepair.”

He’s letting his lawyers handle it. That’s what super-rich people tend to do. David Copperfield is just short of being a billionaire, and he’s still raking in money from his magic act. The wizard literally doesn’t have to care about other people so he doesn’t, but his inexcusable conduct has given wags an easy punchline: “How can the neighbors of a famous magician be surprised when he disappears?”

Heh. Funny.