🔗 Share this article

A American legislative committee investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, requesting that he participate in a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.

In a communication published on Thursday, a California congressman, the top Democrat on the House investigative committee, requested that King Charles III’s brother cooperate with its inquiry.

The written appeal to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s victims, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will examine allegations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand details on Epstein’s activities, network, and accomplices based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It demanded particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly categorically denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Communication

“It has been documented that your friendship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for procuring minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It stated further: “It has also been reported that you traveled with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s home at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s personal island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 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 crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A announcement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a answer by 20 November.

Previous Remarks and Cooperation

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the panel. The people deserves to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the congressman does not hold the authority to compel the former prince and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not reply to US appeals for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s attorneys to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has honored with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.

Appeals for Transparency

The representative said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have escaped justice for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to tell the truth and secure justice for the survivors. Oversight Democrats will not halt pushing for responsibility and openness for victims of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the current probe. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker added: “And if not, our investigation will show that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his styles suggest there is additional to this situation.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III officially made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.