Epstein accuser says Prince Andrew groped her, documents show

By Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A woman who has said she was victimized by deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein said Britain's Prince Andrew put his hand on her breast at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in 2001, according to court documents unsealed on Wednesday.

The incident, which has been previously reported and Andrew has denied, was among the details revealed in a trove of previously redacted documents.

Epstein socialized with Wall Street titans, royalty and celebrities before pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. He took his own life in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

Dozens of women have accused Epstein of forcing them to provide sexual services to him and his guests at his private Caribbean island and homes he owned in New York, Florida and New Mexico.

The names of more than 150 people mentioned in a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, were kept under seal for years until a federal judge ruled last month that there was no legal justification to keep them private.

In a 2016 deposition, Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg said Prince Andrew put his hand on her breast to pose for a photo with Epstein, Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend.

Sjoberg said the photo also included a puppet that said "Prince Andrew" on it.

Andrew has been stripped of most of his royal titles due to his association with Epstein. He settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre last year for an undisclosed sum and has denied wrongdoing. He was not immediately reachable for comment.

The list stems from a long-settled defamation lawsuit that Giuffre filed against Maxwell.

Maxwell, the daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein. She is appealing her conviction.

Giuffre accused Maxwell of recruiting her when she was underage for Maxwell to abuse.

U.S. Judge Loretta Preska, who is overseeing the case, ruled that some names would remain confidential, including those of people who were underage when Epstein abused them.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York, Joseph Ax in Princeton New Jersey and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)