CEDAR CREST, N.M. — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued the U.S. Department of Justice and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in federal court Wednesday, accusing them of stonewalling the state's criminal investigation into sex crimes at Jeffrey Epstein's former ranch near Santa Fe.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, said the department's refusal to share investigative materials "harms victims and undermines the public interest" and asked a judge to force the handover. New Mexico's Zorro Ranch is one of the last venues where state prosecutors may still be able to charge Epstein's associates or, as the suit put it, "provide some sense of justice to survivors."
What the state wants
Torrez told reporters on a videoconference call that his office has made 10 separate requests for records and has been ignored or denied each time. "We have heard repeatedly they will cooperate and what our team has experienced is anything but cooperation," Torrez said, adding that Blanche could reverse course immediately.
"Todd Blanche today with a stroke of a pen could grant us the access that he claimed," Torrez said. "Instead they have decided to stonewall, to obstruct and to frankly conceal for whatever reason."
The lawsuit references a Justice Department prosecution memo describing a sexual assault at Zorro Ranch by a woman other than Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend now serving a 20-year federal sentence for sex trafficking. Asked on NBC News's "Hallie Jackson Now" whether that meant another woman had facilitated assaults in a similar way, Torrez said, "The truth is we don’t know at this point."
The truth commission
The suit was filed the same day the New Mexico House released an interim report from the state's Survivors' Truth Commission, a four-legislator panel established by state lawmakers in February. The report said "those directly responsible for protecting New Mexicans relied on others to do their job," faulting federal prosecutors in New York for focusing on Epstein's misdeeds in New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and the Virgin Islands while leaving his New Mexico offenses unexamined.
Rachel Benavidez, the sole speaker in the meeting's survivor testimony, said Epstein abused her at the ranch after she was brought there to work as a massage therapist beginning in the late 1990s. Benavidez said Epstein's local connections allowed him to "roam free here in New Mexico unchecked" after he was convicted of sex crimes elsewhere. About 50 members of the media and the public attended.
The DOJ position
The Justice Department, in a statement distributed through federal prosecutors in New York, said it was withholding some material because federal court orders prohibit disclosure of victim-identifying information. "New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures," the agency said. It said protecting victim privacy is a top priority and that the department "remains available to assist New Mexico’s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders."
A group of Epstein survivors sided with Torrez in a joint statement, calling the department's privacy rationale "laughable when the DOJ has already revealed their names and personal information" and accusing Blanche of "continuing to protect abusers."
Epstein bought Zorro Ranch in Stanley, N.M., about 30 miles south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private airstrip and helipad. His estate sold the property in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, Texas' recently appointed state comptroller, who renamed it San Rafael Ranch and said the family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.
The Justice Department began releasing Epstein records in December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law quickly complained that the released material was heavily blacked out, already public or lacking context — the same objection at the heart of Wednesday's suit.