Congressional Committee Asks for Deposition with Andrew in Jeffrey Epstein Probe
A American legislative panel investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he submit to a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a document made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, urged that King Charles III’s sibling cooperate with its probe.
The written appeal to provide testimony comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and agreed to surrender his property in Windsor.
Records and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed 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 oversight committee will investigate accusations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request details on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.
It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on specifics of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly vehemently rejected any wrongdoing.
Content of the Communication
“It has been publicly reported that your relationship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 sentencing for procuring minors for prostitution,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been claimed that you traveled 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 abusing underage individuals. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, coupled with the recently revealed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our concern that you may have valuable information about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”
A statement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a answer by 20 November.
Earlier Comments and Collaboration
The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to give evidence before the committee. The citizens deserves to know who was harming women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not possess the power to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a overseas individual.
In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to cooperate to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to check 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 honored with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given absolutely no cooperation”.
Demands for Transparency
The lawmaker said in a comment that “rich and influential men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the option to be honest and secure redress for the victims. We will not stop advocating for responsibility and openness for survivors of Epstein and his network of partners.”
Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving evidence to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the active probe. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker added: “And if not, our probe will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive much-delayed accountability. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors suggest there is more to this case.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.