New Mexico will reopen its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro ranch in the state following a public pressure campaign for a fuller accounting of the role the location it played in the late financier’s sex-trafficking conspiracy.
The New Mexico department of justice’s announcement came less than two weeks after the Guardian reported that federal agents did not appear to have ever searched Zorro Ranch.
The Guardian’s reporting also revealed that there appeared to be no active criminal investigations into Zorro Ranch at that time.
New Mexico’s department of justice said at the time that it was working with lawmakers on launching something it styled as a truth commission. That commission was given the green light several days ago.
“Upon reviewing information recently released by the US Department of Justice, Attorney General Raúl Torrez has ordered that the criminal investigation into allegations of illegal activity at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch be reopened,” the New Mexico department of justice posted online on Thursday.
The department said that it had closed its prior investigation in 2019 at the request of New York federal prosecutors that handled the second investigation in Epstein’s Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme that ultimately led to his arrest.
The department said “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination” and that “special agents and prosecutors at the New Mexico Department of Justice will be seeking immediate access to the complete, unredacted federal case file”.
Earlier this week, the New Mexico state legislature approved the formation of an Epstein “truth commission” to examine what had taken place at the 7,560-acre ranch, which was never searched at the time. It is charged with filing a full report by the end of the year.
The Zorro ranch was one of several properties where the sex-trafficking conspiracy was conducted. Some accusers have alleged the ranch was the site of sex trafficking.
The New Mexico state department of justice said its renewed inquiry will “follow the facts wherever they lead, carefully evaluate jurisdictional considerations, and take appropriate investigative action, including the collection and preservation of any relevant evidence that remains available”.
New Mexico’s governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, welcomed both investigative moves that could provide more accountability for Epstein’s victims.
“This is a legislature that is not afraid to take on tricky issues, where we need a lot more [US justice department] work here, not less,” Lujan Grisham said.
Multiple women have publicly said that Epstein abused them as teen girls or young adults at Zorro Ranch.
Jane, the first accuser who took the stand at the sex-trafficking trial of Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, said she traveled with them to New York City and New Mexico.
“I just remember someone, at one point, just came into [my] room and said: ‘Jeffrey wants to see you,’ and then escorted me to see him,” she testified. “I just, as usual, felt, like, my heart sink into my stomach, you know.
“I did not want to go see him,” recalled Jane, who said she was 15 or 16 at this time. “I just remember being led to his bedroom and, you know, the same thing would happen.”
Annie Farmer, the fourth accuser who testified at Maxwell’s trial, said that the disgraced socialtite gave her a nude massage at Zorro when she was age 16.
Farmer told jurors that the morning after this massage, Epstein climbed into her bed and said he “wanted to cuddle”. Farmer told jurors she “felt kind of frozen”.
“He pressed his body into me,” Farmer said. Farmer testified that she told Epstein she needed the bathroom, to flee.
Virginia Giuffre, among the most prominent Epstein accusers, said she was abused at Zorro Ranch. Giuffre, who died by suicide last spring, said Epstein trafficked her to have sex with high-profile men at the ranch.
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