🔗 Share this article House Panel Requests Deposition with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Investigation A US congressional committee probing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to an interview as part of its investigation into Epstein’s wrongdoings. In a document released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its probe. The formal request to provide testimony arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his princely title and agreed to vacate his leased home in Windsor. Records and Allegations Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and travel logs secured from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault. “The oversight committee will examine allegations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek details on Epstein’s network, associates, and connections based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release. It requested information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his association with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any impropriety. Content of the Request “It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for soliciting minors for commercial sex acts,” the letter said. It stated further: “It has also been alleged that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming young girls. This strong bond with Mr Epstein, combined 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 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. Earlier Comments and Assistance The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be called to testify before the committee. The public has the right to know who was harming women and minors alongside Epstein.” However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to compel the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige testimony from a foreign national. In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US appeals for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that authorities and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to check on his previous pledge that he was “ready to help any relevant law enforcement agency”. “It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given absolutely no cooperation”. Appeals for Accountability The lawmaker said in a statement that “affluent and well-connected men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the chance to be honest and provide redress for the survivors. We will not stop fighting for accountability and openness for victims of Epstein and his group of partners.” Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of released files, “it is crucial that Andrew assists with the active inquiry. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.” The lawmaker added: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the survivors will receive belated redress. The Royal Family’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors show there is further to this story.” The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally revoked Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the adjustment – which had been announced a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the royal office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.