Prince Andrew accuser Johanna Sjoberg knew Virginia Roberts underage
- Johanna Sjoberg was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001, when she was 20 and a scholar at Palm Beach Atlantic University
- She mentioned Virginia Roberts was already in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit – Roberts had been recruited the yr earlier than – and it was well-known Roberts was 17
- Sjoberg claimed that in 2001 she, Roberts and Maxwell have been at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion with Prince Andrew, who groped her breast
A Florida girl who was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell to work for Jeffrey Epstein has claimed that she knew Virginia Roberts was underage when she was compelled in 2001 to have intercourse with Prince Andrew.
Johanna Sjoberg testified in May 2016 that she was a 20-year-old scholar at Palm Beach Atlantic University when Maxwell, a stranger, approached her and provided her a job as a private assistant. Sjoberg started working for Epstein in 2001, and was instantly compelled to carry out intercourse acts.
Sjoberg mentioned that she knew one other of the younger ladies in Epstein’s orbit, Virginia Roberts, was underage.
Roberts had been recruited by Maxwell the yr earlier than, in 2000, whereas she was working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
Roberts and Sjoberg would go on to come across an extended record of well-known faces – amongst them Prince Andrew. He has at all times denied all accusations of sexual exercise with Epstein’s accusers, and denied any wrongdoing.
Sjoberg’s testimony was unsealed on Wednesday evening – a part of a trove of just about 950 pages detailing Epstein’s relationships, friendships and actions. The paperwork are from a 2015 defamation swimsuit filed by Roberts – now married as Virginia Giuffre – in opposition to Maxwell. The paperwork have been sealed in 2017 and made public on Wednesday.
Johanna Sjorberg is pictured in West Palm Beach. She now runs a hair salon in Florida
Sjoberg was recruited at age 20 by Maxwell on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University the place she attended college
Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell are pictured in 2001 at Maxwell’s London townhouse
One of the paperwork – a request by Roberts’ authorized staff to the decide to take extra depositions – states: ‘Johanna confirms that she knew Virginia was underage when she met her on the journey to NY with Jeffrey in 2001 as a result of Virginia could not get into the on line casino after which later Johanna requested her and Virginia mentioned she was 17.
‘Johanna testified that Virginia regarded younger.
‘Johanna added: ‘At the time I had the impression that she didn’t have a household or she had walked away from her household. And it appeared to me, you realize, they’d simply kind of adopted her, not as a baby, however they might deal with her.’
Sjoberg additionally claimed that, whereas Roberts was 17 and he or she was 20, they have been all collectively in Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse with Prince Andrew. Roberts would later say that she and Prince Andrew had intercourse that night in Epstein’s home.
Sjoberg mentioned that the Prince groped her breast.
‘Johanna confirmed that she witnessed Virginia when she was seventeen (17) in Jeffrey Epstein’s New York mansion with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell,’ the paperwork state.
‘Johanna additionally testified that Prince Andrew sat with Virginia and Johanna and took an image with a puppet in his picture that had its hand and Prince Andrew’s hand on their respective breasts.’
Sjoberg would repeat the story in a 2007 interview with a newspaper.
Jeffrey Epstein is pictured in March 2017 on the New York state intercourse offender registry
Epstein and Maxwell in an undated photograph launched by the court docket
Virginia Roberts has been combating for nearly a decade for justice
She mentioned in 2007 that she returned to the residence after some ‘sightseeing’ and ‘Prince Andrew was there and a few different ladies my age. Andrew was very charming . . . She (Ghislaine) got here down with a gift for him — a latex puppet of him from Spitting Image.’
She added: ‘We had an image taken.
‘Virginia, one other lady there, sat on a chair and had the puppet on her lap. Andrew sat on one other chair.
‘I sat on his lap — and he put his hand on my breast. Ghislaine put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast. Then Andrew put his hand on mine. It was an incredible joke. Everybody laughed. Ghislaine had a really soiled humorousness.’
The duke paid a reported $12 million settlement to Roberts in 2022 over her claims that he sexually assaulted her when she was 17, which he has at all times denied. The claims have been by no means examined earlier than a court docket.
During his infamous interview in 2019 he mentioned he had no recollection of ever assembly Roberts.
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein are seen strolling in Central Park on December 5, 2010
According to Roberts’ movement, Sjoberg additionally testified that the magician David Copperfield dined with Epstein, and Copperfield ‘questioned me if I used to be conscious that ladies have been getting paid to search out different ladies.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Copperfield’s rep for a remark.
Maxwell, the daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell, is serving a 20-year jail sentence for recruiting underage ladies for Epstein. She is the one particular person to be tried and convicted for his or her position within the Epstein intercourse trafficking ring.
She was sentenced in June 2022, and is interesting her conviction.
Epstein socialized with Wall Street titans, royalty and celebrities earlier than pleading responsible to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. He took his personal life in 2019 at age 66 whereas awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking expenses.
Sigrid McCawley, Roberts’ lawyer, mentioned some questions on who enabled Epstein have nonetheless not been answered.
‘The unsealing of those paperwork will get us nearer to that objective,’ she mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday.
