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A American legislative body investigating sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in a deposition as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document published on Thursday, a California congressman, the leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its probe.

The formal request to answer questions follows a week after Mountbatten Windsor was lost his HRH style and agreed to give up his property in Windsor.

Files and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name features in documents and flight logs obtained from Epstein’s estate and made public by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of misconduct.

“The committee will examine accusations of wrongdoing by Mountbatten Windsor, and will seek information on Epstein’s operations, network, and connections based on the men’s enduring and thoroughly recorded friendship,” the committee said in a press release.

It sought details from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019. Andrew has consistently vehemently rejected any misconduct.

Details of the Request

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein started 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 went with Epstein to his New York residence, the Queen’s residence at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been alleged of abusing minors. This intimate friendship with Mr Epstein, combined with the recently revealed 2011 email exchange in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further supports our belief that you may have valuable information about the offenses committed by Mr Epstein and his partners in crime.”

A statement regarding the letter said it was endorsed by 13 other Democrats on the committee and asks a reply by 20 November.

Earlier Comments and Collaboration

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be called to give evidence before the committee. The citizens should be able to know who was abusing women and young girls alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the authority to legally require the ex-royal and Congress itself cannot oblige statements from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor did not respond to US appeals for an interview. 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 earlier promise that he was “willing 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 “given zero cooperation”.

Demands for Transparency

The representative said in a comment that “wealthy and influential men have evaded justice for far too long. Now, ex- Prince Andrew has the option to tell the truth and deliver justice for the victims. We will not cease fighting for accountability and openness for victims of Epstein and his gang of accomplices.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after hearing testimony to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as media coverage of released files, “it is essential that Andrew works together with the ongoing investigation. If he is blameless, then he can prove his innocence.”

The lawmaker continued: “And if not, our probe will show that, and the victims will receive long overdue accountability. The royal household’s actions taking away Andrew of his honors show there is additional to this story.”

The letter was issued on the same day the British king publicly stripped Mountbatten Windsor of his HRH style. Charles III publicly made the alteration – which had been declared a week ago – by issuing a “royal decree” which the crown office released in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.