🔗 Share this article

A American legislative panel investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a document released on Thursday, a California congressman, the leading Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.

The written appeal to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and agreed to vacate his property in Windsor.

Records and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will investigate claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s operations, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It demanded particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any misconduct.

Details of the Letter

“It has been widely 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 stated further: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our concern that you may have key insights about the offenses 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 requests a response by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the panel. The public has the right to know who was abusing women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the power to subpoena the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to respond to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Justice

The representative said in a statement that “affluent and powerful men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to be honest and secure redress for the affected individuals. The committee will not cease fighting for accountability and clarity for victims of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving evidence to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the active inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the victims will receive long overdue redress. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors suggest there is more to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.