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A US congressional committee probing sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he submit to a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a letter made public on Thursday, a lawmaker, the senior Democrat on the House oversight panel, requested that King Charles III’s brother assist with its inquiry.

The formal request to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his royal title and opted to give up his leased home in Windsor.

Records and Claims

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in documents and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and disclosed by the committee. He has also been charged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The panel will investigate accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request data on Epstein’s operations, associates, and connections based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It requested particulars from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his friendship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has repeatedly strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Details of the Letter

“It has been widely reported that your friendship with Mr Epstein began 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 claimed that you went with Epstein to his New York home, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been accused of abusing underage individuals. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, along with the recently revealed 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 crimes committed by Mr Epstein and his accomplices.”

A notification regarding the letter said it was co-signed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November.

Past Remarks and Assistance

The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the committee. The people has the right to know who was harming women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not possess the authority to subpoena the duke and Congress itself cannot oblige evidence from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not 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 reached out to Andrew’s legal team to inquire on his earlier promise that he was “prepared to help any appropriate law enforcement agency”.

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

Demands for Accountability

The lawmaker said in a comment that “affluent and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide accountability for the victims. The committee will not halt fighting for responsibility and clarity for those affected of Epstein and his network of accomplices.”

Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to accounts to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as public reporting of disclosed papers, “it is vital that Andrew works together with the ongoing investigation. If he is innocent, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our examination will reveal that, and the affected individuals will receive long overdue redress. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his honors show there is more to this story.”

The letter came on the same day the British king formally stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the change – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the monarch’s office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.