Magician David Blaine is under investigation by the NYPD over sexual-assault allegations made by two women — one of whom claims he hypnotized her into compliance, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Monday.
Both women claim to have been attacked by Blaine in separate incidents more than 20 years ago in Manhattan, sources said.
They’ve been interviewed by sex-crimes detectives and the ongoing probe is being conducted by the NYPD Special Victims Division’s Cold Case Squad, the sources said.
During an unrelated news conference at police headquarters on Monday afternoon, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea confirmed that there’s an “active investigation” of Blaine underway.
But when asked if have investigators had tried to interview Blaine or if he’d been informed about the probe, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said, “I’m not going to make any comment on that.”
The first woman to go to the cops told them about a year ago that she met Blaine through a friend in 1997 and went to his apartment, sources said.
There, she believes Blaine hypnotized her and made her masturbate him while she was in a hypnotic state, sources said.
The other woman contacted cops about a week ago and claimed she was sexually assaulted by Blaine in his apartment in 1998, sources said.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting Blaine, in either case, has lapsed, sources said, and he has not been charged with any crimes.
The allegations against Blaine, 45, were first reported by the Daily Beast, which said he declined to comment and hadn’t been approached by authorities.
In 2016, former model-turned-art dealer Natasha Price told British authorities that Blaine raped her in a home in London’s Chelsea neighborhood during the summer of 2004, shortly after she turned 21.
Blaine told investigators they had consensual sex, and Scotland Yard closed the case without any charges the following year.