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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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New Mexico sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) this week, accusing it and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche of stonewalling the state’s investigation into potential crimes at the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, has said the federal government has obstructed the state's efforts to investigate potential crimes connected to the ranch, near Santa Fe. The lawsuit is seeking a court order that would compel the DOJ to turn over unredacted records related to Epstein and Zorro Ranch, arguing that they could help identify victims, witnesses and possible criminal conduct in New Mexico. State prosecutors have made numerous requests for information that they say were ignored, denied or delayed, the complaint says.
The DOJ has rejected the allegations, saying some of the materials that are being sought cannot be disclosed because court orders protect victim-identifying information.
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"Federal court orders prohibit the disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures," the department said in a statement. The department added that it remains willing to assist the state's investigation "consistent with the law and binding court orders."
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Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend and associate, is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges.
Controversy over files related to the federal government's investigation into Epstein dogged President Donald Trump’s administration for much of last year. In December, the DOJ began releasing records related to its investigation after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But Epstein’s accusers, lawmakers and others criticized the slow rollout of the documents accusing the department of hiding certain documents and over-redacting files.
Here, Newsweek looks at five questions raised by New Mexico's lawsuit.
Why Was Zorro Ranch Never Searched by Federal Agents?
According to New Mexico’s lawsuit, the first law enforcement search of the property was carried out by the state in March, weeks after it reopened into investigation into potential crimes at Zorro Ranch.
The lawsuit said the state agreed in 2019 to stand down its investigation until federal investigators completed their investigation into Epstein. It said that in September that year, New Mexico prosecutors provided the DOJ with its "entire investigative file" and reiterated their intent to work with the DOJ if further investigation revealed evidence of crimes in New Mexico.
"But federal law enforcement failed to ever search Zorro Ranch," the complaint says. The DOJ "likewise failed to make any attempt to seize Zorro Ranch and Epstein’s associated New Mexico property and failed to do anything else to preserve or gather evidence of Epstein’s crimes in New Mexico."
The New Mexico Department of Justice conducted the first law enforcement search of the ranch on March 9. The department said in a statement that day that it had "initiated a search" of the property at Torrez's direction, with state police and the Sandoval county sheriff’s office assisting.
What Happened to the FBI's 2007 Probe?
The FBI visited Zorro Ranch in February 2007 and interviewed the property’s manager Brice Gordon about masseuses on the property, according to an interim report released by the New Mexico Survivors’ Truth Commission this week. The commission was established in February by state lawmakers.
The report cites a document released in the Epstein files that said Gordon said Epstein flew in with his personal assistant, bodyguard, friends, personal trainers and "sometimes his masseuses." Gordon said licensed massage therapists were also recruited from a local spa or through referrals.
It’s not clear where that investigation led or what other evidence was gathered by the FBI as part of that probe. Newsweek has contacted the FBI for comment via email.
What Evidence Does the DOJ Have That New Mexico Can't See?
The lawsuit is asking a court to force the DOJ to provide New Mexico with "non-public information related to potential crimes in New Mexico." The state alleges the DOJ possesses files that could identify possible criminal conduct, as well as potential victims and witnesses.
The lawsuit says the NMDOJ asked Blanche in February for an unredacted copy of a document that alleges two female victims were buried in the land around the ranch as well as "any and all other unredacted documentation, correspondence, investigative materials, internal memoranda, or related records in your possession that reference or pertain to these allegations, Zorro Ranch, or potential victims connected to this matter."
Torrez also sought unredacted versions of other materials where Epstein’s victims recounted being brought to New Mexico as well as grand jury testimony from Maxwell’s case about abuse in the state.
Who Visited Zorro Ranch?
The Epstein files include more than 13,000 references to Zorro Ranch, and 5,000 references to New Mexico as "locations where victims were trafficked, groomed, and assaulted," the lawsuit says.
But it remains unclear if there ever were any records documenting everyone who visited or worked at the property over the years, or if they still exist after the property was sold.
Some of the records sought by New Mexico "refer to Epstein’s ‘inner circle,’ to visitors to Zorro Ranch, and to staff of Zorro Ranch, some of whom are alleged to have participated in abuse or witnessed the circumstances surrounding abuse, but the names of these persons are frequently redacted," the lawsuit says.
What Allegations Have Been Made?
The interim report released by the commission blamed federal prosecutors for the lack of information about Epstein’s activities in New Mexico. But it cited evidence gathered by federal prosecutors in New York to describe women who recounted being sexually abused by Epstein at Zorro Ranch.
Witnesses in Maxwell’s trial also testified about sexual abuse at Zorro Ranch. Annie Farmer testified that she was 16 when she agreed to go to the ranch, where Maxwell touched her breast during a massage and Epstein unexpectedly crawled into bed and pressed himself against her.
During a meeting of the commission on Wednesday, Rachel Benavidez alleged that Epstein sexually abused her at Zorro Ranch. Benavidez has said in interviews that she was brought to the ranch to work as a massage therapist beginning in the late 1990s.
She said Wednesday that Epstein’s connections with powerful people in the state allowed him to "roam free here in New Mexico unchecked" after he was convicted of sex crimes elsewhere.
The commission’s report also referenced a tip received by the FBI in 2019 that alleged two dead bodies were buried at the ranch, but said the validity and source of the allegation remain unknown.
The Daily Mail also reported on unsubstantiated allegations that Epstein used the ranch as part of a scheme to impregnate scores of women. Other unverified allegations include that Epstein had drugged women there to harvest their sex organs.
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What Is Zorro Ranch?
Zorro Ranch served as Epstein's New Mexico base for more than two decades.
Purchased in 1993, the roughly 10,000-acre compound featured a large mansion, private runway and extensive ranch land, becoming one of several high-profile properties linked to the disgraced financier.
Don Huffines, a Republican businessman recently appointed Texas’ state comptroller, bought the property from Epstein’s estate in 2023. Allen Blakemore, a spokesperson for Huffines told Newsweek in February that he had never been to the ranch before it was listed for sale.
"Four years after Mr Epstein’s death, the Huffines family purchased property in New Mexico listed at public auction whose proceeds benefited his victims. Prior to the auction listing, they had never visited the property," Blakemore said in an emailed statement.
Huffines had never been approached by "local, state, or federal law enforcement requesting access to the San Rafael Ranch. If, they do, of course they will be granted full and complete cooperation," Blakemore said in the statement.
In a February social media post, Huffines said the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing and that his family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.
And in an interview, he said the main reason he purchased the ranch was to "put light in a dark place."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Tony Phillips.
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