New Mexico approves truth commission on alleged Jeffrey Epstein ranch abuse | Jeffrey Epstein
New Mexico approves a “truth commission” to investigate abuse at Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch outside Santa Fe; Meanwhile, calls for transparency regarding the late sex offender’s crimes continue.
to move The announcement by lawmakers Monday renewed financier interest in the Zorro ranch after the Justice Department last month released millions of investigative documents into Epstein.
Many women and girls said they were brutally sexually abused 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) property.
But law enforcement showed little interest in activities here. Authorities also raided Epstein’s other properties, including his New York mansion and a Caribbean island. Palm Beach mansion and a Paris apartment — but multiple state and local officials said they were not aware of any federal searches at the farm.
Hector Balderas, who served as New Mexico’s attorney general at the time of Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, said in a statement that his office was “investigating activities that occurred in New Mexico, including contact with multiple victims, that are currently amenable to prosecution.”
Balderas said his office backed down after federal prosecutors in New York, who are pursuing the Epstein investigation, “wanted us to pursue further state investigations or prosecutions of Epstein-related activities because they informed us they already had active multijurisdictional prosecutions.”
Emails released by the justice department in late January say Balderas’ office “agreed to cease any investigation of sex trafficking and share with our office anything they collect regarding sex trafficking activities.”
A December 2019 email from a prosecutor to the co-administrator of Epstein’s estate stated that federal agents were “not searching the New Mexico property.” There also appears to have been no state or local law enforcement investigation into what was going on at Epstein’s property.
New Mexico State House representative Andrea Romero, a Democrat who sponsored the truth commission legislation, said the committee would use public records as well as subpoena power and testimony “to piece together the full story,” Source NM reported.
The subcommittee, which must include four representatives from both major political parties, is expected to have a budget of $2 million and serve until 2026.
Romero said New Mexico residents “deserve to know the truth about what happened at Zorro Ranch and who knew it.”
The commission is funded by an organisation. residential New Mexico attorney general and Deutsche Bank during an investigation into financial institutions‘ Her role in “failure to detect sexual exploitation and trafficking of underage girls at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.”
The announcement is one of the latest steps lawmakers are taking to understand how Epstein allegedly abused young girls for years with near impunity. The federal Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed in November, requiring the justice department to release all files related to him.
Trump, who once counted Epstein among his friends, signed the bill into law only after receiving political backlash over his own administration’s handling of the files. He promised to release the files during the 2024 presidential campaign, but later tried to avoid doing so and has repeatedly called the Epstein controversy a hoax.
