Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell used Epstein's ranch in Santa Fe County for their sex trafficking. Now, New Mexico state Representatives Andrea Romero and Marianna Anaya plan to pick up from previous federal and state investigations and keep digging.
Via Source NM:
Epstein purchased the 7,500-acre Zorro Ranch from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King in 1993. According to court documents, the ranch, which has its own airstrip and helipad, was the site of sex trafficking, including by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 as Epstein’s co-conspirator.
Two New Mexican attorneys general have opened previous investigations into Epstein’s activities in the state: Hector Balderas’ criminal investigation in 2019 closed within the year without filing any charges. In 2023, current Attorney General Raúl Torrez investigated the role financial services companies played in failing to identify the abuses at the ranch.
Anaya said that while the state pursued a criminal investigation under Balderas, the overlapping jurisdiction with federal investigators hampered it.
“I think the investigation that actually could have happened here, the full-fledged investigation, was maybe unnecessarily put on hold,” Anaya said. “We do have some documents from that, but it’s definitely not comprehensive.”
Romero and Anaya plan to establish a bipartisan commission with subpoena power, akin to the federal government’s 9/11 and January 6th commissions. The hope is that the commission will be established during the 2026 legislative session, then get up and running quickly thereafter.
