Back in 2004 David Blaine was still relevant, having done his whole ‘suspended above London in Plexicase box’ stunt at the tail end of the year before.

During the summer of 2004, however, Blaine stands accused of raping then 20-year-old Natasha Prince, with Scotland Yard now on the case.

Prince claims she was raped at a home in Chelsea, with the allegation first reported to police on November 17 of last year.

More on the Daily Beast:

Police last month emailed Prince that they had requested Blaine, through his attorney, come to the U.K. for an “interview under caution” where he would be provided with the particulars of the allegation.

Blaine’s attorney, Marty Singer, denied all allegations to The Daily Beast in a statement.

“My client vehemently denies that he raped or sexually assaulted any woman, ever, and he specifically denies raping a woman in 2004,” the statement said. (“This would include Natasha Prince,” Singer said in an additional statement.) “If, in fact, there is any police investigation, my client will fully cooperate because he has nothing to hide.”

Prince’s account, as told to the Daily Beast during an interview in Beverley Hills, is condensed below:

…Prince said she received a text from Blaine, inviting her over to his friends’ place for drinks. When she demurred, given the time and her early call the next morning, he offered to send a car.

“I thought, ‘OK, he must really like me,” said Prince. “It wasn’t too far a drive—it was in Chelsea… We pulled up to this mansion—there were electronic gates, and it really intimidated me. It was like an embassy, with 20 or 30 rooms, and I took an elevator up to the third or fourth floor.”

At one point, Prince said, Blaine disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a vodka and soda “in a tall crystal glass.”

“I had a high tolerance, but that week I was working and had decided not to drink,” Prince said. “But I decided to have that one drink that night. It wasn’t strong; it tasted mostly like soda.” After 20 minutes of superficial conversation, Prince claims Blaine asked to show her something in the adjacent bedroom.

“I remember carrying my drink, because I assumed we were coming back,” she said. “I guess I thought we might look at a view or something.”

At this point in our conversation, she burst into tears, and we took a 10-minute break to get some air. Then she continued.

“I followed him, and we went into the bedroom, and it’s dark. I told him right away when he texted me that I was working tomorrow. So I was thinking maybe we would have a sort of intimate conversation somewhere else for five or 10 minutes. But he spun around quite quickly and said, ‘Kiss me.’ I did kiss him. And then he said, ‘Finish your drink’ and took the glass from me and put it on the table, and that’s really the last thing I remember.

“At some point, I was on the bed, face-forward, and he was behind me. I think it woke me up a little bit, because I’d never had that [anal sex] done to me before. I remember moving around a lot. I was limp, and I was very floaty; I was in and out of a deep sleep.

“When I woke up, I was very relaxed—very stoned. The lights were on, and I was naked. He was shirtless at the end of the bed. And when I looked at him, he said, ‘You have really nice tits.’ … He was just folding clothes, walking around. He didn’t kiss me or anything.”

Prince did a photo shoot the next day, and then headed overseas. When she arrived back in New York, Blaine called her:

“It was a very short conversation,” she said. “I was very freaked out; he seemed to be checking up on me, but he didn’t try and make a plan to see me or anything. He sounded very creepy, and it made me feel a bit bullied.” She would see Blaine three additional times: The following year, a friend was invited to a party at Blaine’s house and in a show of bravado, she tagged along. She insisted they leave soon after arriving, but not before Blaine followed her into the bathroom and allegedly told her, “You were really good in bed.”

Six years later, Prince said she ran into Blaine in the Manhattan subway with his girlfriend and daughter, and they exchanged small talk. Days later, Prince claims Blaine appeared outside of the art gallery where she worked.

“He called my name and asked how I was; it was very brief, but he seemed to come out of nowhere,” Prince said. Feeling “embarrassed,” Prince then invited him in.

Blaine’s attorney recalls this incident:

“The last time my client saw Ms. Prince was approximately five years ago, on the streets of New York, where Ms. Prince approached my client and invited him to see her at the Gagosian Gallery, where she works. This conduct is completely inconsistent with any claim that my client engaged in any wrongful conduct approximately 13 years ago with Ms. Prince.”

Singer’s other clients have included John Travolta, Bill Cosby, and Charlie Sheen.

Over to you, Scotland Yard.

[source:dailybeast]