🔗 Share this article

A American legislative committee investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he submit to a deposition as part of its probe into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its investigation.

The formal request to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and agreed to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Documents and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and aviation records obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The panel will probe allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s operations, associates, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Content of the Request

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

It added: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our belief that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a answer by 20 November.

Past Statements and Collaboration

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the committee. The citizens should be able to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the representative does not have the authority to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a foreign national.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US appeals for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to check on his earlier promise that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given no cooperation”.

Demands for Justice

The congressman said in a comment that “rich and influential men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to come clean and deliver justice for the victims. We will not cease fighting for answerability and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the current inquiry. If he is blameless, then he can clear his name.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue accountability. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his styles indicate there is additional to this case.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.