House Committee Requests Deposition with the Duke of York in Epstein Investigation
A US congressional committee looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he undergo questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.
In a letter made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its inquiry.
The formal request to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and opted to vacate his leased home in Windsor.
Files and Accusations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The committee will probe claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s operations, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a statement.
It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any impropriety.
Substance of the Communication
“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been reported that you traveled with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting minors. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.
Past Remarks and Cooperation
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the committee. The citizens deserves to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not have the power to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force statements from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to cooperate to US demands 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 earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given no cooperation”.
Appeals for Accountability
The congressman said in a statement that “rich and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide redress for the survivors. We will not halt fighting for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of partners.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the active investigation. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue justice. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors suggest there is additional to this story.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.
