Congressional Committee Seeks Questioning with Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional panel looking into pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a communication published on Thursday, a US representative, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its inquiry.
The official demand to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and consented to give up his leased home in Windsor.
Documents and Accusations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and flight logs obtained 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 committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and connections based on the men’s long-term and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any wrongdoing.
Details of the Letter
“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for sex work,” the letter said.
It stated further: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing minors. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have important details about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a response by 20 November.
Earlier Comments and Cooperation
The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the oversight committee. The people should be able to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the congressman does not hold the power to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot force evidence from a foreign national.
In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.
“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The representative said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to tell the truth and provide justice for the survivors. The committee will not stop fighting for accountability and transparency for survivors of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.”
The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles suggest there is more to this situation.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.