New Mexico state lawmakers leading a bipartisan Truth Commission have released their interim report on the legislature’s months-long investigation into crimes that allegedly occurred at convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County.
One major problem, they argue, is the Department of Justice and Republican U.S. Attorneys who claim to care about sex trafficked victims won’t provide evidence to help New Mexico prosecute sex trafficking crimes.
The commission released its report on the same day New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez sued the DOJ for interfering “with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within its borders,” The Center Square reported.
Both Torrez and the Truth Commission launched investigations into Zorro Ranch in February, The Center Square reported. They did so after Congress enacted the Epstein Files Transparency Act requiring the DOJ to release all files in its possession related to Epstein.
The DOJ released 3.5 million heavily redacted files out of six million and won’t provide unredacted files to Torrez to aid New Mexico’s investigation, prompting the lawsuit, it alleges. The DOJ is currently embroiled in another lawsuit for refusing to release all Epstein files. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch has said the DOJ won’t release all the files.
The EFTA doesn’t grant the DOJ unlimited discretion to withhold or redact material, but it continues to do so, the commission argues.
The law restricts the DOJ from withholding records “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any governmental official, public figure, or foreign dignitary,” the commission notes. “Congress wrote that sentence, transparently, to prevent exactly the kind of selective redaction critics have accused DOJ of engaging in – protecting the reputations of well-connected people who appear in Epstein’s orbit. The Commission takes the position that all records that the DOJ are withholding subject to the EFTA should be released.”
Some EFTA files that were released can’t be verified, the commission says, including one email that claims two bodies were buried at the ranch. This is because the FBI never provided information to the NM AG’s office about the claim, the report states.
The commission said its initial strategy was to investigate claims disclosed in EFTA files. Its strategy was thwarted by the DOJ refusing to release unredacted files and U.S. attorneys ignoring subpoenas, the commission said.
New Mexico’s struggle with the Trump administration dates to 2019. After New Mexico’s former attorney general launched a criminal investigation into Zorro Ranch, then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Maureen Comey squashed it. She did so after receiving police reports of alleged abuse and recorded witness interviews from the former NM AG and brought no charges, The Center Square reported.
While high profile political leaders and bankers have resigned or been arrested overseas after the partial Epstein files were released, no criminal action has been taken in the U.S. against Epstein coconspirators since the files were released.
The Truth Commission is comprised of Democrat state Reps. Andrea Romero (chair) and Marianna Anaya and Republican state Reps. William Hall and Andrea Reeb. From June 5 through June 30, they issued 20 subpoenas. Ten fully complied, two partially complied and eight refused or didn’t respond, they said.
The commission didn’t receive full cooperation from the DOJ or from several U.S. attorneys whose predecessors investigated Epstein’s activities in New Mexico, they added.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison for the District of New Mexico “partially responded to the commission’s subpoena for records, meaning [his office] only returned sparse records of information that do not fully respond to the subpoena’s request.”
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald (Southern District of New York), U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quinones (Southern District of Florida), U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon (Eastern District of Michigan), U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey (Western District of Michigan) and U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling (District of South Carolina) “have refused to comply with the Commission’s subpoenas or entirely ignored them,” according to the report.
The Federal Aviation Administration and JP Morgan didn’t respond to subpoenas.
The commission has held three public meetings, released timelines and other facts related to the investigation, interviewed witnesses and reviewed survivor statements.
The investigation is broken into four categories: 1) sexual abuse, sex trafficking, interstate and international sex trafficking, grooming networks and medical and scientific crimes; 2) financial crimes stemming from a 2022 state settlement with Epstein estate banks; 3) institutional failures, including alleged violations of sex offender registry laws, state land lease abuse and missing documents; 4) alleged intelligence alliances, coconspirators, blackmail and connections to those in political power.
Investigators conducted a physical search of the property, now owned by former Republican Texas Sen. Don Huffines. Huffines secretly purchased the property in 2023 after Epstein’s death. Epstein first purchased the property in 1993.
A search conducted in March used cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar and investigators couldn’t confirm the presence of human remains, the report states.
The report names members of Epstein’s inner circle, employees and contractors. It includes information about flight logs, Epstein’s communication network, and police activity on the ranch. The investigation is ongoing.
