LOS ANGELES - FBI agents have raided a Las Vegas warehouse owned
by magician David Copperfield -- for reasons they did not disclose
-- and media reports said that they seized nearly $2 million and
computer equipment.
The FBI on Friday declined to say why it raided the Las Vegas
warehouse, confirming only that it related to an investigation out
of Seattle.
"We're just confirming that investigative activity took place at
the warehouse," David Staretz, chief division counsel, for the FBI
in Las Vegas, told Reuters. He declined to give further
details.
The warehouse is where Copperfield keeps his props and maintains an
office.
Media reports said FBI agents seized nearly $2 million in cash from
the building, along with a computer hard drive and a memory chip
from a digital camera system during Wednesday's late-night
operation.
"We understand there is an investigation, are in touch with the
investigators, and are respecting the confidentiality of the
investigation," Copperfield's attorney David Chesnoff said in a
statement cited by Las Vegas broadcasters.
Chesnoff and Copperfield's publicist could not be reached for
further comment.
The local CBS affiliate KLAS-TV quoted a source as saying the cash
was stashed in a safe and that agents took the cash.
Copperfield, 51, whose real name is David Kotkin, is famed for
stunts such as making the Statue of Liberty disappear and walking
through the Great Wall of China. He is a regular performer at the
MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas.
