Lucy Osborne and Stephanie Kirchgaessner
The Guardian
Their world exclusive revealing a new allegation against Donald Trump was the most read story on the Guardian website over two days, with 2.1 million views. Their reporting, which included a video of the victim Stacey Williams talking about the alleged incident for the first time, was widely covered around the world. The article also revealed that it was Jeffrey Epstein who introduced them and that Epstein was present during the incident, which she described as a “twisted game” between them. She said the two men were “really good friends”.
Lucy and Stephanie’s long-running five-part investigation into the magician David Copperfield also had an Epstein angle. They shed new light on Copperfield’s little-known relationship with the paedophile, which included exclusive testimony from two Epstein victims and the discovery of Epstein’s phone message records that appear to show Copperfield left 16 messages for the paedophile in just a few months.
Their Copperfield investigation followed work undertaken by the journalists over five years (firstly by Lucy as a freelancer) and covered allegations from 16 women, including allegations of drugging and assault, all of which he denied through his representatives. This involved developing and maintaining relationships with dozens of vulnerable sources for long periods of time, many of whom were initially scared to come forward.
As well as interviews with more than 100 sources, the reporters analysed court and police records they obtained through FOI requests and other previously unseen documents. They also used open source intelligence to track down victims and unearthed previously unseen footage of Copperfield with his alleged victims. They were able to expose a pattern of alleged behaviour, despite the obstacles that came with reporting on one of the wealthiest and most powerful celebrities. This required ingenuity and skill.
The investigation also included a two-part podcast and video. The final piece in the series of articles shed new light on a two-year FBI investigation into Copperfield after a woman accused him of raping her on his private Bahamian island. While Copperfield publicly said he was exonerated when the FBI did not charge him, the reporters were able to reveal that this was not the case. Lucy and Stephanie also discovered that at least four other people have reported Copperfield to the authorities. They all said their accounts were not taken seriously, allowing Copperfield to continue his alleged abuse for decades.
Lucy and Stephanie have a track record of holding powerful men to account. Lucy’s previous investigations have exposed sexual misconduct allegations by powerful men in a variety of industries, including fashion, TV and film. Police investigations and better safeguarding in these industries have followed and the victims say their reporting changed their lives.