Ghislaine Maxwell's guilty verdict is bad news for Prince Andrew's civil case. Maxwell has been convicted of sex trafficking and conspiracy after a month-long trial in New York. And this has now shifted focus on Johanna Sjoberg's accusation against Prince Andrew. Sjoberg had claimed that the Duke of York groped her breast at Jeffrey Epstein's New York townhouse in 2001.
Sjoberg was reportedly attending a birthday party for Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell when the sexual encounters started.
Speaking of the 2001 incident, Sjoberg had said that Prince Andrew and Ghislaine were present at the party, including a couple of other girls her age. "Andrew was very charming. I didn't know exactly who he was but felt that I knew him. She (Ghislaine) came down with a present for him – a latex puppet of him from Spitting Image," Sjoberg said.
"Virginia, another girl there, sat on a chair and had the puppet on her lap. Andrew sat on another 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 a great joke. Everybody laughed. Ghislaine made a lot of sexual jokes," she said during an interview with The Daily Mail in 2019.
Who is Johanna Sjoberg?
Sjoberg, now 41, was a college student when she met Prince Andrew at Epstein's Manhattan mansion. Twenty years ago, she was lured by Maxwell into Jeffrey Epstein's 'pyramid of sexual abuse.'
She alleges that when she was groped by the Queen's second son the latex Spitting Image puppet of the duke was used to abuse Miss Roberts, who was then 17, in the presence of Maxwell. Sjoberg also claims to have slept with Andrew in a massage room at Epstein's house which she called 'the dungeon.'
Sjoberg is an American hair salon owner, who could hold the key to Virginia Roberts's sexual claims against Prince Andrew. Her LinkedIn profile suggests that she owns Beautyfool Salon in West Palm Beach, Florida. Beautyfool is a luxury hair salon with services costing from $50 for a men's haircut to $250 for highlights. Her salon caters to select clientele only.
