(The Center Square)– With a New Mexico legislative investigation underway into a ranch that was used as a staging ground to traffic and sexually assault children, files released by the Department of Justice show that a U.S. attorney in New York halted a state attorney general investigation in 2019 and no federal, state or county criminal searches of the property took place.
Jeffrey Epstein was convicted in a Florida state court in 2008 on child prostitution charges after taking a controversial plea deal. He served 18 months in prison. Multiple women then came forward alleging he sexually assaulted and trafficked them and sued. In 2019, Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges but did not stand trial because of his death.
One year later, his coconspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, was charged with sex trafficking and abusing girls she procured for Epstein and his clients. By December 2021, she was found guilty on multiple charges and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein’s clients and associates haven’t been prosecuted. Public outrage led to Congress passing a law requiring the Department of Justice to publish documents related to Epstein. So far, more than 3 million heavily redacted files have been released.
The Epstein files have been the focus of congressional hearings, campaigns and resulted in several high-profile people resigning. The King of England’s younger brother, Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested on Thursday on charges of misconduct in public office for his alleged role in an Epstein child sex trafficking ring, charges he denies.
This week, a New Mexico House Special Investigative Committee launched an investigation into Epstein’s Zorro ranch now owned by Texas businessman Don Huffines after learning of more criminality alleged in the files. Lawmakers also said residents of the Santa Fe community had long alleged crimes were being committed there and no state legislative investigation had been conducted, The Center Square reported.
Epstein’s Virgin Islands company, Cypress, Inc., purchased the property from New Mexico’s former three-time Democratic Gov. Bruce King in 1993. The property surrounding the ranch includes state land and King family-owned land. After Epstein was indicted in 2005, campaign contributions he made to New Mexico Democrats were returned, including by former Gov. Bill Richardson and then attorney general candidate Gary King, Bruce King’s son, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
During Gary King’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign, he received $30,000 worth of donations from businesses using Epstein addresses, the paper reported. He also thanked Epstein for his “personal commitment” to raising $50,000 for his campaign, according to the Epstein files.
Nearly 100 documents mention Gary King, including check payments made by Epstein, emails stating Epstein could pay for chartered flights for King “through two different entities,” a chartered flight from Sante Fe to Washington, D.C., with flight costs ranging from $22,000 to $27,000, according to the documents. Other files include emails about phone calls and lunch plans scheduled between Epstein and King.
In response to the $22,000 chartered flight, King told KRQE News his campaign paid for it and Epstein donations he received were later donated to a nonprofit. He also said he would have prosecuted Epstein had he known crimes were committed at the ranch. No investigations were launched by his office when he served between Jan. 1, 2007, and Jan. 1, 2015.
Four years after King left office, New Mexico Land Office Commissioner Stephanie Garcia called for an investigation into “allegations that Epstein sexually abused and trafficked underage girls in New Mexico, with the Zorro Ranch at the heart of possible sex crimes.”
Garcia also canceled state lease agreements with the ranch dating to 1993.
In 2019, two men came forward alleging the Sante Fe mayor at the time had abused them as children, KUNM News reported. It was unclear of his connection to Epstein, but it was noted by Albuquerque FBI staff in an email, according to the Epstein files.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas launched an investigation but was asked to halt it in July 2019 by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Maureen Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey.
According to a Sept. 8, 2019, redacted email, her office said it “spoke with the New Mexico AG’s office back in July 2019. In essence, they agreed to cease any investigation into sex trafficking and share whatever they had gathered to date regarding sex trafficking activity with our office. We agreed that they were free. To proceed with whatever other investigations unrelated to sex trafficking they may have concerning Epstein and told them that at the conclusion of our case, we would pass along any information we may have gathered about the state crimes that were committed in their jurisdiction.”
In a letter to Comey obtained by The Center Square, Balderas provided documents of “police reports, recorded witness interviews, correspondence amongst New Mexico State agencies, and documents related to Epstein’s leasing of New Mexico public lands.” The Trump administration redacted Comey’s name even though it was public knowledge that she was the US attorney at the time. Her office said it was interviewing Epstein victims based on the information Balderas provided, according to an Oct. 11, 2019, email. In 2020, Balderas was still providing information. No charges were brought; no search warrants were issued to search Zorro ranch.
After the Epstein files were released, Garcia renewed her call for a state investigation and the New Mexico legislature launched its own investigation.
