An employee of David Copperfield was hospitalized Wednesday with a broken arm after one of the illusionist’s tricks went awry on stage.

The unidentified employee was assisting Copperfield during the “fan illusion” and got his arm caught in the fan. In the illusion, Copperfield appears to walk through the fan and disappear as he turns to smoke.

The show, dubbed An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion, took place in Las Vegas at MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre.

“This is a trick David has done over 3,000 times,” executive producer Chris Kenner says. “This was a freak accident.”

The show was stopped after the mishap, but it’s unlikely the crowd could get a clear view of the accident, Kenner says.

“He is recovering,” Kenner says. “People are always saying that it’s magic and it isn’t dangerous. This goes to show you that it is.”

Kenner said Copperfield will continue to perform the fan illusion in his shows. None of Copperfield’s shows at MGM Grand have been postponed due to the incident.

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David Copperfield is under the FBI microscope, and now TMZ may know why.

Last week, the FBI raided Copperfield’s Las Vegas warehouse and seized digital camera equipment and a hard drive to a computer — this, after a Seattle woman accused Copperfield of sexually assaulting her in the Bahamas.

Sources now tell TMZ Copperfield designed part of his show around “a system for picking up women.” During his show, David goes into the audience and chooses women to come on stage. We’re told that if David likes a girl, he’ll use code words with assistants like “mama” and “secrecy.” The assistants mark the women on a map of the inside of the Hollywood Theater at MGM Grand. After the show, the women are brought backstage — and that’s where the profiling begins.

The women are told that David may use them in his show when he comes to their hometown. They are then photographed with a digital camera, asked questions like, “What is your favorite men’s cologne?” and “Where do you like to vacation?” We’re told one of those vacation spots mentioned by staff is the Bahamas, where the accuser claims she was assaulted. Copperfield owns a cluster of islands in the Bahamas — which he bought for $50 million.

This may explain the FBI’s interest in David’s camera system and hard drive. If the accuser is a woman who was brought on stage, the FBI would be interested in a possible M.O.

Copperfield’s attorney says the sexual assault charges are false, and told TMZ that the magician’s recent cancellation of an Indonesian tour had nothing to do with the allegations, but instead involved the contract with the Indonesian show promoter.

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As previously report, David Copperfield is being investigated by the FBI. It has been revealed that the illusionist is being investigated for possible sexual misconduct.

Citing an unnamed source, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the FBI raid of Copperfield’s warehouse on Wednesday was “connected to an investigation of possible sexual misconduct by the illusionist.”

The source said the alleged incident occurred outside the U.S. but is within the FBI’s jurisdiction because the accuser is a U.S. citizen, according to the paper.

Copperfield’s attorney did confirm that there was a investigation currently being done by the FBI on Copperfield but added, “If in fact those are the allegations, unfortunately false allegations are all too often made against famous individuals. But we are confident the investigation will conclude favorably.”

A spokeswoman for the FBI only said “The only thing we’re confirming right now is that there was some investigative activity in the Las Vegas area yesterday connected with a Seattle-area case, both of which are pending.”

Update: I currently read on Foxnews.com that a female in Seattle is claiming that David rapped her.

“The woman told Seattle police the magician raped her while she was in the Bahamas, sources said. Because the alleged incident happened abroad and the woman did not report it until she returned to the United States, Seattle authorities turned over the case to the FBI.”

Magician David Copperfield has been linked to an FBI investigation, authorities confirmed Thursday.

A Las Vegas-area warehouse operated by Copperfield was raided by 12 agents Wednesday night, TV station KLAS reports. A computer hard drive, digital camera system, and nearly $2 million in cash were seized, the station reports.

“The only thing we’re confirming right now is that there was some investigative activity in the Las Vegas area (Wednesday) connected with a Seattle-area case, both of which are pending,” said Robbie Burroughs, spokeswoman for the Seattle division of the FBI.

No other details were provided.

Copperfield’s attorney, David Chesnoff, told KLAS: “We understand there is an investigation, (we) are in touch with the investigators, and are respecting the confidentiality of the investigation.”

Copperfield, 52, is among the richest entertainers in the world. According to Forbes magazine, he earned $57 million in 2003, ranking him that year as the 10th-highest paid globally.

Copperfield was once engaged to the supermodel Claudia Schiffer, but the couple split in 1999 after six years together.

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