Congressional Panel Seeks Deposition with the Duke of York in Epstein Investigation
A US congressional committee probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a letter made public on Thursday, a US representative, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother help with its inquiry.
The formal request to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and consented to vacate his leased home in Windsor.
Documents and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and travel logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The panel will examine allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s enduring and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a statement.
It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his association with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any impropriety.
Details of the Request
“It has been widely reported that your association with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.
It continued: “It has also been claimed that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming minors. This strong bond 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 valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A statement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and requests a answer by 20 November.
Previous Comments and Cooperation
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the oversight committee. The public should be able to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not possess the power to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a foreign national.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US demands 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 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 pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The congressman said in a comment that “wealthy and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver redress for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for answerability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the current investigation. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our probe will demonstrate that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue accountability. The Royal Family’s actions removing Andrew of his honors indicate there is further to this story.”
The letter came on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.
