Famed magician David Copperfield has been hit with a lawsuit accusing him of neglecting his upscale Manhattan condo and leaving it in such disrepair that it has caused over $2 million in damages to the building and neighboring units.
The board of the Galleria Condominium, a luxurious 55-story complex on East 57th St., filed the $2.5 million lawsuit on Tuesday.
It says that Copperfield purchased the condo in 1997 for about $7.4 million, but transferred ownership to a shell company he owns shortly after buying it.
The suit alleges that he packed the unit with fortune-telling machines, arcade games and other items like “hazing devices apparently used by various fraternities during the turn of the century.” The board says he failed to properly maintain the unit and let it “devolve into a state of complete dilapidation” after moving out in 2018.
Photos included in the lawsuit show paint chipping from the walls, ceilings and windowsill, a filthy carpet and a dirty and stained bathtub.
A representative for Copperfield told the New York Post that “the photographs included in the lawsuit don’t reflect the current state of the apartment.”
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“This is a court matter and will be handled in court,” the representative said, calling it a “simple insurance claim.”
The lawsuit documents some of Copperfield’s alleged neglect. In 2015, it says, his rooftop pool burst because he allegedly used illegal and ineffective plumbing fixtures. It caused units as far as 30 stories below to flood, as well as the building’s elevator systems.
For years, he ignored necessary window repairs in his unit, bringing “the Condominium to the brink of litigation,” the suit says.
In 2018, he allegedly abandoned the condo, “stripping it of its furniture and fixtures.”
“Since then, Copperfield has let the Unit devolve into a state of complete dilapidation,” the lawsuit says. “To say that he trashed the Unit is an understatement.”
The board said it hired a company to assess the damage and the company found severe water damage to the exterior elements of the units “that could result in damage to other apartments.” Mold and mildew were found inside the unit from water damage, it says.
The condo continues to have ongoing leaks, the board says in its lawsuit.
The company the board hired to assess the damage said the current condition of the condo “pose potential safety and health hazards and should not remain within an occupied building.” In response to the company’s findings, Copperfield allegedly did “band-aid repairs,” the complaint says.
“Several of the more significant and dangerous issues such as subsurface decay/damage, structural stability, and mold growth remain unaddressed,” it says.
The suit accuses Copperfield, 67, of causing an estimated $1.9 million worth of damage to the building’s elevators and upward of $1 million worth of damage to other units.
The board is seeking more than $2.5 million in damages.
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