Congressional Panel Asks for Questioning with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional panel investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.
In a communication released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s sibling assist with its inquiry.
The official demand to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and agreed to vacate his rented residence in Windsor.
Records and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in records and aviation records subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The oversight committee will probe claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s network, network, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always categorically denied any misconduct.
Substance of the Letter
“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York property, 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 underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 electronic correspondence 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 accomplices.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a response by 20 November.
Past Remarks and Cooperation
The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be summoned to appear before the oversight committee. The public has the right to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not hold the ability to subpoena the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a overseas individual.
In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.
“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given absolutely no cooperation”.
Appeals for Transparency
The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and influential men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and provide justice for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not halt fighting for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as news accounts of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive belated justice. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles show there is further to this situation.”
The letter came on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.
