Justice Department is causing ‘real and escalating harm’ to state’s investigation, top official says
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New Mexico officials are accusingDonald Trump’s Department of Justiceof obstructing access to documents connected to the federal government’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein as the state performs its own probe intothe sex offender’s alleged crimes at his Zorro Ranch property.
The state’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez is demanding immediate access to files requested by his office several months ago and suggested the Justice Department s now withholding those records despite what he called “verbal assurances” from the federal government.
New Mexico’s Department of Justice is investigating Epstein’s alleged crimes at the Santa Fe County property that wasonce owned by the wealthy and well-connected sex offender.
Torrez’s office requested records from the Justice Department more than 130 days ago, he wrote in aletterto Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday. But “access to the requested records has not been granted” and “no substantive response has been provided,” he wrote. His office “views this length of time as an unreasonable delay under any rule of reason,” Torrez added.
The records in the Justice Department’s possession include “the names of survivors, witnesses, co-conspirators, and other individuals whose identities are essential” to the state’s investigation into Zorro Ranch, according to Torrez.
State investigatorsreopened an investigation into the 26,700 square foot hilltop mansionin Santa Fe County after the Justice Department began releasing millions of documents stemming Epstein investigations.
Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in 2025, was pictured at Zorro Ranch, and other survivors of his abuse, including Annie Farmer, have described the abuse they experienced under Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell at the property.
“Heavily redacted open-source records already establish that multiple survivors were brought to Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, on numerous occasions, where they were subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation,” Torrez wrote to Blanche.
“Survivors of serious criminal conduct at Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch in New Mexico are being denied justice,” he wrote. “That harm is a direct consequence of the [Justice Department’s continued failure to comply with [New Mexico's] outstanding records request.”
Those records are “essential to substantiating survivor testimony and constructing the evidentiary foundation any prosecution requires,” he said, and the Justice Department’s withholding of the documents is causing “real and escalating harm” to the state’s investigation.
