Congressional Committee Seeks Deposition with Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry

A US congressional committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication published on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.

The official demand to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The panel will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand information on Epstein’s network, network, and connections based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.

Content of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been claimed that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our belief that you may have important details about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a response by 20 November.

Past Statements and Assistance

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the panel. The citizens has the right to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered no cooperation”.

Appeals for Transparency

The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and secure justice for the victims. We will not stop fighting for accountability and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew assists with the ongoing probe. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the victims will receive much-delayed redress. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles show there is more to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III officially made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.