David Copperfield’s Midtown pool floods building

Magician David Copperfield’s rooftop swimming pool recently sprung a leak, flooding his apartment and causing water damage as far as 30 stories below.

On March 8, the pool atop Copperfield’s 117 East 57th Street penthouse spontaneously burst, according to the New York Post. Copperfield’s lawyer, Ted Blumberg, confirmed with the Post that a pump for the 57th-floor pool malfunctioned.

Copperfield’s four-story penthouse at the Galleria contained valuable art and antiques, including vintage Coney Island memorabilia.

Copperfield was in Las Vegas at the time of the incident.

“The pump malfunctioned and the entire pool drained through David’s apartment and apartments below, right to the basement. Walls and floors were completely soaked,” Blumberg told the Post. “David was terrified, because he has these rare, vintage Coney Island machines, which are priceless, irreplaceable antiques, including a fortune teller, strength testers, an electric shock machine and shooting galleries. But for some unknown reason — or stroke of luck — these machines were spared by the water. There’s a magic trick called ‘The Bullet Catch,’ where the illusionist catches the bullet in his teeth, and David thinks he really dodged a bullet here.” [NYP] – Christopher Cameron