New Mexico AG says DOJ is hindering Epstein investigation by withholding unredacted records
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is demanding unredacted Epstein records from the U.S. Justice Department, arguing the federal government is obstructing the state's criminal investigation into alleged crimes at Zorro Ranch.
Raúl Torrez says federal officials have delayed responding for more than 130 days and argues the state cannot fully investigate alleged crimes at Zorro Ranch without access to unredacted files.
Organ Mountain News report
ALBUQUERQUE - New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is demanding that the U.S. Department of Justice turn over unredacted records tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, arguing that a delay of more than 130 days is obstructing an active state criminal investigation.
In a June 30 letter to acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana, Torrez said federal officials have provided no substantive response to repeated requests for records identifying survivors, witnesses, alleged co-conspirators and others connected to Epstein’s activities in New Mexico.
“Despite verbal assurances of cooperation from the USDOJ, access to the requested records has not been granted, no substantive response has been provided, and more than 130 days have now elapsed since the NMDOJ’s initial request,” Torrez wrote. “The NMDOJ views this length of time as an unreasonable delay under any rule of reason.”
The New Mexico Department of Justice says it is the only agency currently conducting a criminal investigation into alleged crimes at Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County.
Torrez said heavily redacted public records show that multiple survivors were taken to the ranch and sexually abused or exploited there. He said the identities concealed in those records are essential to locating survivors, corroborating testimony and determining whether criminal charges can be brought in New Mexico.
Joshua Bowling
The letter also outlines how federal authorities became involved in New Mexico’s earlier investigation.
According to Torrez, the state opened an investigation in 2019, collected witness accounts and investigative reports and coordinated with federal prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York then asked New Mexico to halt its investigation so the state’s materials could be folded into the federal prosecution of Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators.
New Mexico complied with that request, Torrez wrote.
On Sept. 17, 2019, then-Chief Deputy Attorney General Clara Moran sent the state’s entire investigative file to federal prosecutor Maurene Comey. The file included police reports, recorded witness interviews and materials related to Epstein’s use of New Mexico public lands.
State officials asked federal authorities to notify New Mexico if the federal investigation uncovered additional survivors of crimes that occurred in the state. Torrez said that notification never came.
“The NMDOJ’s investigation was effectively suspended by federal request in 2019, its file released to federal authorities, and its survivors left without an accounting of what occurred in New Mexico,” Torrez wrote. “The USDOJ now holds in its possession the very records that would allow the NMDOJ to resume what federal intervention interrupted.”
The state investigation is now active again, according to the letter.
Torrez said the missing records are preventing investigators from identifying survivors and witnesses, pursuing subpoenas and search warrants, authenticating evidence and assessing the full scope of potential criminal liability.
He also warned that further delays could weaken any future prosecution as memories fade, witnesses become harder to locate and physical or documentary evidence deteriorates.
“Every avenue of investigation that begins with a redacted name, a blacked-out face, or an obscured date is an avenue that ends before it begins,” Torrez wrote.
The state first requested records from federal officials Feb. 13. Additional requests followed in March, May and June, including a formal Touhy request seeking federal records for use in a legal proceeding.
Torrez said federal officials directed the state to submit that formal request during an April 1 phone call and pledged cooperation. New Mexico submitted it May 3 and requested a response by May 11, but Torrez said no substantive response followed.
The letter asks the Justice Department to provide access to the records or its database by July 31. If the department does not comply by then, New Mexico will consider the request denied.
Torrez said the state is willing to follow federal security requirements, confidentiality restrictions and protective agreements governing use of the records.
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