House Panel Seeks Questioning with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry
A US congressional committee probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, previously Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he undergo questioning as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s illegal activities.
In a communication released on Thursday, a California congressman, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother assist with its investigation.
The official demand to respond to queries follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.
Records and Claims
Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and travel logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.
“The committee will probe claims of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s activities, associates, and connections based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.
It sought particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any impropriety.
Substance of the Letter
“It has been publicly reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein started in 1999 and that you remained close 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 went with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of harming young girls. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the freshly uncovered 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further bolsters our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”
A announcement regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a reply by 20 November.
Previous Statements and Collaboration
The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be asked to give evidence before the committee. The people has the right to know who was assaulting women and young girls alongside Epstein.”
However, the lawmaker does not have the power to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot force statements from a overseas individual.
In 2020, US authorities said that Mountbatten Windsor failed to reply to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his previous pledge that he was “prepared to help any suitable law enforcement agency”.
“It’s just for people to know whether Prince Andrew has fulfilled with that assurance,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “provided absolutely no cooperation”.
Appeals for Justice
The congressman said in a comment that “affluent and influential men have escaped accountability for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and deliver justice for the survivors. We will not stop advocating for answerability and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his network of co-conspirators.”
Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving testimony to the committee from Epstein’s accusers, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing probe. If he is not guilty, then he can vindicate himself.”
The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will show that, and the survivors will receive much-delayed redress. The monarchy’s actions taking away Andrew of his titles indicate there is additional to this situation.”
The letter was sent on the same day the British king formally removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III formally made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “official document” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.
