House Committee Asks for Deposition with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Probe
A US congressional panel probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.
In a letter made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its probe.
The official demand to respond to queries comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his princely title and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.
Records and Allegations
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in records and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The oversight committee will probe allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It demanded details from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any misconduct.
Content of the Communication
“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you remained close 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 property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of harming underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the newly disclosed 2011 electronic correspondence in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was supported by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a answer by 20 November.
Previous Remarks and Assistance
The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the panel. The citizens should be able to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not have the authority to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a overseas individual.
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 attorneys to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “ready to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The congressman said in a comment that “affluent and powerful men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to tell the truth and provide accountability for the victims. Oversight Democrats will not cease pushing for answerability and transparency for those affected of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is crucial that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing investigation. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the victims will receive much-delayed accountability. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors indicate there is additional to this case.”
The letter came 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 “official document” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.