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A US congressional panel looking into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sent a letter to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, once Britain’s Prince Andrew, demanding that he participate in a deposition as part of its probe into Epstein’s criminal operations.

In a document published on Thursday, a US representative, the senior Democrat on the House investigative committee, asked that King Charles III’s younger brother cooperate with its probe.

The written appeal to answer questions comes a week after Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal title and agreed to surrender his rented residence in Windsor.

Records and Accusations

Mountbatten Windsor’s name appears in papers and flight logs secured from Epstein’s estate and publicly released by the committee. He has also been alleged by one of Epstein’s survivors, the late Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault.

“The oversight committee will probe accusations of misconduct by Mountbatten Windsor, and will request information on Epstein’s operations, associates, and connections based on the men’s long-term and well-documented friendship,” the committee said in a statement.

It sought information from Mountbatten Windsor on details of his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Andrew has always strongly denied any misconduct.

Content of the Letter

“It has been publicly reported that your association with Mr Epstein began in 1999 and that you stayed connected through and after his 2008 guilty verdict for trafficking underage girls for prostitution,” the letter said.

It added: “It has also been reported that you journeyed with Epstein to his New York property, the Queen’s estate at Balmoral, and to Mr Epstein’s secluded island in the US Virgin Islands, where you have been charged of assaulting underage individuals. This close relationship with Mr Epstein, coupled with the newly disclosed 2011 digital communication in which you wrote to him ‘we are in this together’, further confirms our concern that you may have important details about the crimes 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 response by 20 November.

Past Statements and Assistance

The letter follows a week after another Democrat on the committee told: “Andrew should be summoned to testify before the panel. The people has the right to know who was abusing women and underage individuals alongside Epstein.”

However, the lawmaker does not have the ability to compel the duke and Congress itself cannot compel testimony from a non-US citizen.

In 2020, US agencies said that Mountbatten Windsor neglected to reply to US requests for an interview. The then US attorney for the southern district of New York said that prosecutors and the FBI had approached Andrew’s lawyers to check on his public commitment that he was “prepared to help any suitable 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 no cooperation”.

Calls for Transparency

The congressman said in a announcement that “wealthy and well-connected men have avoided the law for far too long. Now, one-time Prince Andrew has the opportunity to come clean and secure accountability for the affected individuals. The committee will not halt fighting for answerability and transparency for victims of Epstein and his group of co-conspirators.”

Another signatory, a Virginia Democrat, said that after receiving accounts to the committee from Epstein’s victims, as well as news accounts of leaked documents, “it is vital that Andrew assists with the current investigation. If he is blameless, then he can vindicate himself.”

The lawmaker stated further: “And if not, our investigation will reveal that, and the victims will receive much-delayed justice. The royal household’s actions stripping Andrew of his titles show there is more to this situation.”

The letter was sent on the same day the British king publicly removed Mountbatten Windsor of his princely title. Charles III publicly made the adjustment – which had been revealed a week ago – by issuing a “letters patent” which the monarch’s office made public in the Gazette, the UK’s public registry.