New Mexico’s attorney general filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday against the U.S. Department of Justice and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, asserting that the federal government has obstructed the state’s criminal investigation into sex offenses connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s property near Santa Fe. The lawsuit seeks judicial action to compel the federal government to release materials to state investigators, with New Mexico’s attorney general stating his office submitted 10 requests for key information that were either ignored or denied.
The Justice Department responded that it cannot release certain information due to federal court orders protecting victim-identifying information. The agency said New Mexico has provided no legal justification for such broad disclosures and stated it remains available to assist with the investigation within legal and court-order constraints. A group of Epstein victims and their family members countered that the department’s privacy argument lacks credibility, citing instances where the DOJ had already released names and personal information.
The lawsuit filing coincided with the release of a report from the New Mexico Survivors’ Truth Commission, which blamed federal prosecutors in Manhattan for insufficient focus on Epstein’s activities in the state. The commission, established in February by state lawmakers, noted that federal authorities concentrated on Epstein’s conduct in New York, Palm Beach, and the Virgin Islands while leaving his New Mexico offenses inadequately examined. At the report’s public hearing, a survivor testified that Epstein’s connections to powerful individuals in the state enabled him to “roam free here in New Mexico unchecked” after previous convictions elsewhere.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York federal jail in August 2019 after being arrested and denied bail on sex trafficking charges. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence. Testimony at Maxwell’s trial alleged that both engaged in sexual abuse at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch. Epstein’s former property, purchased in 1993 near Stanley, New Mexico, was sold by his estate in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, recently appointed Texas state comptroller, and is now operated as a Christian retreat.
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