New Mexico claims Justice Department blocked probe into Jeffrey Epstiens ranch in bombshell lawsuit
New Mexico’s attorney general sued the U.S.Department of Justice on Wednesday, accusing it of blocking the state from investigating sex crimes at Jeffrey Epstein’s former ranch near Santa Fe.The lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the department and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stonewalled New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s criminal investigation into Epstein and others, taking action that “harms victims and undermines the public interest.”The lawsuit sought judicial intervention to force the federal government to turn over materials to New Mexico’s investigators.
It was filed the same day that the New Mexico House of Representatives released a report saying “those directly responsible for protecting New Mexicans relied on others to do their job,” including federal prosecutors in New York.Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 after he was denied bail on sex trafficking charges lodged against him when he was arrested a month earlier.Epstein’s former girlfriend and close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges in New York.Witness testimony at Maxwell’s trial alleged she and Epstein had sexually abused women at his New Mexico ranch.According to New Mexico’s lawsuit, state prosecutors “have faced sustained resistance” to the kind of information-sharing common between state and federal investigators.The Justice Department said in a statement it was not releasing some information the state requested because of federal court orders that ban disclosing victim-identifying information.“New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures,” the agency said.
It said protecting victim privacy remains a top priority and the Justice Department “remains available to assist New Mexico’s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.”The lawsuit claims the Jus...