Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Threatens to Wreck Siegfried and Roy's Rep
A former assistant claims Roy Horn sexually harassed him.
Sept. 22, 2010 — -- He's half of one of the entertainment industry's most iconic duos, but new sexual harassment allegations are threatening to rip Roy Horn's reputation to shreds.
Horn, best known as 50 percent of the tiger-wrangling stage sensation Siegfried and Roy, is being sued by one of his former assistants, Oliver Preiss. Priess claims he was fired in April, shortly after the illusionists announced they were leaving show business, following years of rebuffing what he says were Horn's numerous sexual advances.
In a complaint filed in Nevada's Clark County Court on Sept. 17 and obtained by ABCNews.com, Preiss lays out a number of shocking claims, including allegations that Horn and his stage partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, made repeated "requests for sex," that Horn "made sexual advances towards all male assistants," that Horn "forced his assistants to join him in watching pornographic videos at night" and that Horn "groped" Priess, "inside and outside of Priess' clothing."
CLICK HERE to view Preiss' complaint.
The legal documents also state that surveillance videos of Seigfried and Roy's workplace show "rampant sexual harassment, sexual assaults" and "lewd and lascivious conduct," among other specific sex acts.
Like Horn, 65, and Fischbacher, 71, who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany, the complaint states that Priess is a German citizen who moved to Las Vegas in 2008. He initially ran a company specializing in Las Vegas tours for German visitors before meeting Fischbacher "in the street," according to the legal documents, and joining Siegfried and Roy.
According to the complaint, as a result of Horn's alleged harassment, Priess now suffers from anxiety so extreme that he's outfitted his home with multiple alarm systems, cameras and bullet-proof windows at a cost of $30,000. The documents state that Priess' relationship with his wife, Beatrice, who is named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, has been irreparably damaged. They're seeking more than $100,000 in damages.
Asked to respond to the lawsuit, Sharon Nelson, Horn's attorney, told ABCNews.com, "No comment." Priess' attorney, Mike Meier, told ABCNews.com he "cannot comment on the matter at this point."
