State-Level Accountability and Lawmaking

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has reopened a criminal probe into alleged illegal activity at Jeffrey Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch and is seeking immediate access to the complete, unredacted federal Epstein case file—citing revelations in previously sealed FBI documents—as state prosecutors coordinate with other law‑enforcement partners. The review revisits a 2019 state case closed at the request of federal prosecutors and is examining an unverified 2019 email in the FBI files alleging two foreign girls’ bodies were buried outside the ranch; the property was sold in 2023 to the family of Texas Republican Don Huffines (now renamed San Rafael Ranch), whose owners say they will cooperate, while a bipartisan legislative commission also begins probing related questions including why Epstein never registered as a sex offender in New Mexico.