An Indonesian promoter is to sue US magician David Copperfield for cancelling a series of shows here after the FBI launched an investigation into his activities, a report said Tuesday.
Copperfield has cancelled shows across Southeast Asia over the next few weeks after agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Copperfield's storage warehouse in Las Vegas last week.
"I will sue him for three million US dollars over this cancellation," Peter Basuki, owner of Buena Productions, was quoted as saying by the Kompas online news website.
Basuki said he and other promoters from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore had hired a US-based lawyer to launch legal action against the illusionist.
Copperfield was supposed to have launched his show in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Tuesday and it was to run daily until Sunday.
Some 29,000 tickets have been sold and will be refunded, Basuki said.
A spokeswoman for Buena Productions was not immediately available on Tuesday for comment.
FBI agents seized a computer hard drive, a digital camera memory chip and nearly two million dollars in cash during the raid last Wednesday.
They also visited the MGM-Grand Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, where Copperfield often performs.
Organisers of Copperfield's two-day stint in Malaysia, Arianna Event Management, said earlier this week that Copperfield needed to help in the investigations but was not being prevented from leaving the United States.
In Thailand, ThaiTicketMajor and other outlets have stopped selling tickets for the magician's November 8-10 performances in Bangkok, saying the show has been "temporarily closed."
Promoters told the Bangkok Post newspaper that they were in talks with Copperfield's management team about rescheduling.
"We still want him to pursue his shows in Thailand and other countries," said Boonperm Intanapasat of RSI-Dream, the company behind the Bangkok shows.
About 80 percent of the tickets for Copperfield's seven shows in Thailand had been sold. A decision on whether to refund the tickets will be taken once organisers decide whether to cancel the shows, he added.
burs/sb/sst
