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A American legislative body investigating pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has reached out to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, asking that he participate in a deposition as part of its inquiry into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a communication made public on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s sibling help with its investigation.

The written appeal to answer questions arrives a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his princely title and agreed to surrender his leased home in Windsor.

Files and Allegations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and flight logs subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, of abuse.

“The committee will probe allegations of abuse by Mountbatten Windsor, and will demand data on Epstein’s operations, circle, and associates based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a announcement.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York detention facility in 2019. Andrew has always vehemently rejected any impropriety.

Substance of the Letter

“It has been documented that your relationship with Mr Epstein commenced in 1999 and that you continued associating through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for commercial sex acts,” the letter said.

It continued: “It has also been alleged that you traveled 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 abusing underage individuals. This intimate friendship 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 suspicion that you may have valuable information about the wrongdoings committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

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

Earlier Comments and Assistance

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee stated: “Andrew should be called to testify before the oversight committee. The citizens should be able to know who was assaulting women and minors alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not hold the ability to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot compel statements from a overseas individual.

In 2020, US officials said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US requests for an discussion. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had reached out to Andrew’s attorneys to follow up on his earlier promise that he was “willing to help any relevant law enforcement agency”.

“It’s reasonable for people to know whether Prince Andrew has followed through with that pledge,” the attorney said, adding that to date he had “offered zero cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The representative said in a comment that “affluent and powerful men have evaded accountability for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the chance to come clean and deliver justice for the affected individuals. Oversight Democrats will not halt advocating for responsibility and openness for survivors of Epstein and his group of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is essential that Andrew cooperates with the ongoing probe. If he is not guilty, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the victims will receive long overdue redress. The Royal Family’s actions stripping Andrew of his styles suggest there is further to this story.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king officially removed Mountbatten Windsor of his royal title. Charles III officially made the adjustment – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the crown office published in the Gazette, the UK’s government journal.