New Mexico AG sues DOJ over state’s ongoing Epstein investigation

“New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” Torrez said. “We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges the DOJ’s actions are prohibiting the state from identifying witnesses, corroborating evidence and determining the full scope of crimes that occurred in New Mexico. 

Convicted sex offender “Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators engaged in widespread trafficking and sexual abuse of young girls, some as young as fourteen when the abuse occurred. Throughout his lifetime, per the federal government’s own accounting, Epstein and his criminal network subjected over 1,000 survivors to egregious and predatory conduct, including vulnerable young girls in New Mexico. By 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit already had recognized that the relevant facts were ‘beyond scandalous – they tell a tale of national disgrace,’” the lawsuit states.

In February, Torrez reopened a 2019 investigation first launched by former New Mexico AG Hector Balderas into a range of crimes that allegedly occurred at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County. Epstein first purchased the property in 1993. 

Balderas acted after New Mexico General Land Office Commissioner Stephanie Garcia called for an investigation and canceled state cattle grazing licenses with the Epstein property. Not soon after, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Maureen Comey requested Balderas to halt NM’s investigation and provide her office with the state’s evidence. Balderas complied and Comey (former FBI Director James Comey’s daughter) never brought criminal charges. At the time, Balderas had turned over police reports of alleged abuse and recorded witness interviews, The Center Square reported. 

Under the first Trump administration, the Epstein Zorro Ranch investigation was squashed. 

Last fall, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law. It required the U.S. attorney general to release all unclassified documents related to Epstein within 30 days. Under former AG Pam Bondi, roughly 3.5 million files were released out of six million, which were heavily redacted.

After Bondi released files with the victims’ names and engaged in combative exchanges with Congress, Trump removed her from office and replaced her with Blanche.

By April, Blanche said the DOJ wasn’t releasing any more Epstein files. In response, a journalist sued, alleging the DOJ was violating the law. Judge Emmett Sullivan recently ordered the DOJ to provide unredacted documents for him to review.  

After Bondi released partial files, Garcia called for a state investigation, expressing concern that state land Epstein leased may have been used for criminal acts, including burying the bodies of abused deceased children. Neither the state land nor Zorro Ranch had been searched as part of a criminal investigation, her office told The Center Square. 

In response, Torrez reopened the 2019 investigation. The state legislature also authorized a bipartisan investigation, led by the Truth Commission, The Center Square reported.

Since then, the DOJ has been “stonewalling” New Mexico’s investigation, Torrez says. This was after Comey in 2019 assured Balderas that federal law enforcement would cooperate in subsequent state investigations and prosecutions. 

Acting in good faith, “New Mexico gave up timely access to witnesses, victims, and other evidence. The state’s reliance was reasonable given decades of successful state-federal cooperation that has included the sharing of confidential investigative files, evidence, and reports in similar criminal investigations. New Mexico had no reason in 2019 to believe federal law enforcement officials would breach their express assurances and deviate from historical practice just to block their state counterparts from successfully investigating child sexual abuse under state law,” the lawsuit alleges.

The redacted Epstein files and federal records “include evidence of grooming, trafficking, sexual abuse, and other misconduct tied to the property and to individuals associated with Epstein,” the lawsuit alleges. 

It also states that the DOJ “secretly negotiated a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein without consulting survivors,” and its “efforts appear to have graduated from passive nondisclosure to (or at least close to) active misrepresentation.”

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the DOJ’s actions as unlawful and “interfere with New Mexico’s core state police powers and are inconsistent with longstanding federalism principles.” It also requests the court to order the DOJ to provide the requested documents or “promptly reconsider the request under its Touhy regulations.”