🔗 Share this article House Panel Asks for Questioning with the Duke of York in Jeffrey Epstein Investigation A US congressional body looking into sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has formally written to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in questioning as part of its probe into Epstein’s wrongdoings. In a communication made public on Thursday, a California congressman, the leading Democrat on the House oversight panel, urged that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation. The written appeal to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was relieved of his royal title and agreed to give up his property in Windsor. Files and Claims Mountbatten Windsor’s name is listed in papers and aviation records secured 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 abuse. “The committee will investigate claims of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s activities, associates, and accomplices based on the men’s longstanding and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement. It demanded information from Mountbatten Windsor on particulars of his friendship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently strongly denied any wrongdoing. Details of the Communication “It has been documented that your association with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 sentencing for soliciting minors for prostitution,” the letter said. It added: “It has also been alleged that you went 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 accused of harming young girls. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, along with the freshly uncovered 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our suspicion that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his co-conspirators.” A statement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and demands a answer by 20 November. Earlier Comments and Assistance The letter arrives a week after another Democrat on the committee commented: “Andrew should be asked to testify before the committee. The public has the right to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.” However, the lawmaker does not hold the authority to legally require the former prince and Congress itself cannot force testimony from a non-US citizen. In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not cooperate to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that lawyers and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s lawyers to follow up on his public commitment that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”. “It’s fair for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “given no cooperation”. Appeals for Justice The lawmaker said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have escaped the law for far too long. Now, former Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and provide justice for the victims. We will not stop advocating for responsibility and clarity for survivors of Epstein and his gang of co-conspirators.” Another supporter, a Virginia Democrat, said that after listening to evidence to the committee from Epstein’s survivors, as well as media coverage of leaked documents, “it is crucial that Andrew works together with the active investigation. 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 justice. The monarchy’s actions removing Andrew of his honors show there is further to this situation.” The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the change – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.