State Criminal Justice and Public Corruption

New Mexico has relaunched a criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged abuse of girls and women at his 10,000‑acre Zorro Ranch and, in a rare step, created a bipartisan legislative Truth Commission to examine potential crimes and public corruption tied to the property. Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office resumed its probe after newly released U.S. Justice Department files, ending a 2019 pause requested by federal prosecutors, and recently led a coordinated search of the ranch with state police and K‑9 units. Separately, the state legislature voted unanimously on Feb. 16 to establish a truth commission, chaired by Democratic Rep. Andrea Romero, with a mandate to determine what happened at the ranch over 26 years and to issue an initial report by July 31 and a final report by year’s end. The work is being funded from a $15 million settlement New Mexico reached in 2022 with Epstein’s banks, with $2 million earmarked for the investigations, and current owner Don Huffines — a former Texas state senator and now the GOP nominee for Texas comptroller — has agreed to cooperate. The dual inquiries reflect mounting public pressure, amplified online by survivors’ advocates and skeptics of prior official inaction, to expose not just Epstein’s alleged crimes in New Mexico but also who in law enforcement and politics knew what, when, and why nothing was done for decades.