JOHANNA SJOBERG is an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein who has made allegations of sexual misconduct against the convicted paedophile and Prince Andrew.
In January 2024, bombshell court documents containing details of a 2016 interview Sjoberg had with lawyers were released to the public.
Who is Johanna Sjoberg?
Johanna Sjoberg is one of many women to have accused Jeffrey Epstein of abuse.
She claims to have been recruited by the disgraced former financier and sex offender through a process described in court documents as “chillingly similar” to that detailed by other alleged victims.
Sjoberg asserts that, as a young college student in 1999, she was approached by a female associate of Epstein’s, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, and offered a job answering phones.
She says the job pretext lasted only a day, and that she was later encouraged to interact sexually with both Epstein and Prince Andrew.
The allegations were laid out in written evidence given by Sjoberg for a 2015 defamation suit filed against Maxwell by Virginia Roberts Guiffre, another woman who has made allegations against both men.
Prince Andrew had previously faced criticism for continuing his association with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking, having taken his own life.
In December 2023, Judge Loretta Preska ruled that material related to Sjoberg should be unsealed.
The court documents were then released in January 2024.
Sjorberg now works as a hairdresser and lives near Palm Beach, Florida.
What has Sjoberg alleged?
Sjoberg alleges that she was asked to perform sexual massages for Epstein at his New York mansion and was punished if she didn’t cause him to orgasm.
She has claimed Prince Andrew groped her breasts at the same mansion in March 2001.
Sjoberg was 21 at the time of the alleged incident and says the prince was playing with a Spitting Image puppet of himself when the groping occurred.
Sjoberg has also stated that she and Guiffre accompanied Epstein to visit Prince Andrew at Balmoral Castle in mid-1999.
Giuffre (formerly Roberts) has claimed that she had sex with Andrew in 2001 when just 17, an allegation Sjoberg appears to support.
The Duke of York has denied the allegations and reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022.
He denies any wrongdoing in regards to Sjoberg’s claims, and any sexual contact with anyone as alleged.
In the court documents released in January 2024, details of an interview Sjoberg had with lawyers back in May 2016 were revealed.
In the files, Sjoberg claims to have met Michael Jackson at Epstein’s house in Palm Beach.
Bill Clinton, Stephen Hawking and Donald Trump are among the other high-profile figures named in the documents.
There is no suggestion that any of those named are accused of any wrongdoing.
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How has the palace responded?
A statement released by Buckingham Palace after Epstein’s death in 2019 read: “The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes.
“His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent.”
The statement was a response to the emergence of video footage, reportedly shot in December 2010, showing Epstein leaving his New York mansion and Prince Andrew standing just inside the door.
The film is thought to have been shot the day after the two were photographed walking together in New York’s Central Park.
The prince was forced to stand down as a UK trade envoy after facing backlash over the image and his continued association with a convicted sex offender.
He has since lost his royal titles and ended his official royal duties.