House Committee Seeks Questioning with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Probe
A US congressional committee probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings.
In a document released on Thursday, a lawmaker, the leading Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its inquiry.
The formal request to provide testimony follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his HRH style and consented to surrender his leased home in Windsor.
Records and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in records and travel logs secured 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 committee will probe allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s operations, associates, and associates based on the men’s longstanding and extensively reported friendship,” the committee said in a press release.
It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any impropriety.
Substance of the Request
“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.
It added: “It has also been reported that you went with Epstein to his New York residence, 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 underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined 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 key insights about the crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”
A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a response by 20 November.
Past Statements and Cooperation
The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to appear before the oversight committee. The public should be able to know who was assaulting women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”
However, the representative does not possess the authority to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a non-US citizen.
In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US requests for an meeting. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.
“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that public commitment,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given zero cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The lawmaker said in a comment that “affluent and well-connected men have evaded the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and provide accountability for the affected individuals. We will not stop advocating for accountability and openness for survivors of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.”
Another endorser, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as public reporting of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the ongoing inquiry. If he is innocent, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors indicate there is more to this situation.”
The letter was issued on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III formally made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s official public record.