Epstein in New Mexico

This week, a New Mexico House Special Investigative Committee launched an investigation into Epstein’s Zorro ranch now owned by Texas businessman Don Huffines after learning of more criminality alleged in the files. Lawmakers also said residents of the Santa Fe community had long alleged crimes were being committed there and no state legislative investigation had been conducted.

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After Epstein was indicted in 2005, campaign contributions he made to New Mexico Democrats were returned, including by former Gov. Bill Richardson and then attorney general candidate Gary King, Bruce King’s son, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

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[King] said he would have prosecuted Epstein had he known crimes were committed at the ranch.

  The Cener Square

Sure, Jan.

No investigations were launched by his office when he served between Jan. 1, 2007, and Jan. 1, 2015.

Four years after King left office, New Mexico Land Office Commissioner Stephanie Garcia called for an investigation into “allegations that Epstein sexually abused and trafficked underage girls in New Mexico, with the Zorro Ranch at the heart of possible sex crimes.”

Garcia also canceled state lease agreements with the ranch dating to 1993.

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Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas launched an investigation but was asked to halt it in July 2019 by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Maureen Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey.

According to a Sept. 8, 2019, redacted email, her office said it “spoke with the New Mexico AG's office back in July 2019. In essence, they agreed to cease any investigation into sex trafficking and share whatever they had gathered to date regarding sex trafficking activity with our office. We agreed that they were free. To proceed with whatever other investigations unrelated to sex trafficking they may have concerning Epstein and told them that at the conclusion of our case, we would pass along any information we may have gathered about the state crimes that were committed in their jurisdiction.”

How'd that work out?

Her office said it was interviewing Epstein victims based on the information Balderas provided, according to an Oct. 11, 2019, email. In 2020, Balderas was still providing information. No charges were brought; no search warrants were issued to search Zorro ranch.

After the Epstein files were released, Garcia renewed her call for a state investigation and the New Mexico legislature launched its own investigation.

Good luck getting those federal files now.