🔗 Share this article House Panel Requests Deposition with Prince Andrew in Epstein Investigation 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 submit to questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings. In a document published 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 written appeal to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his HRH style and consented to give up his property in Windsor. Documents and Claims Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been accused by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse. “The panel will investigate accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement. It sought particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any wrongdoing. Substance of the Request “It has been widely reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 conviction for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said. It added: “It has also been alleged that you traveled 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 alleged of assaulting underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 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 co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November. Earlier Remarks and Cooperation The letter comes a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the oversight committee. The public deserves to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.” However, the congressman does not possess the ability to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a non-US citizen. In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US demands for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to check on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”. “It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered absolutely no cooperation”. Demands for Transparency The lawmaker said in a comment that “wealthy and influential men have avoided accountability for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt fighting for responsibility and transparency for victims of Epstein and his network of partners.” Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the current inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can clear his name.” The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive belated redress. The monarchy’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles indicate there is further to this story.” The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.