New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Thursday ordered the reopening of a criminal investigation into alleged illegal activity at the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.
Torrez said in a news release that the decision stems from information reviewed in the documents released by the Department of Justice and that previously sealed FBI files “warrant further examination.”
“Special agents and prosecutors at the New Mexico Department of Justice will be seeking immediate access to the complete, unredacted federal case file and intend to work collaboratively with our law enforcement partners as well as the Epstein Truth Commission recently established by the New Mexico Legislature,” the release said.
New Mexico’s House voted on Feb. 16 to establish the Epstein Truth Commission to investigate Epstein’s activities at the ranch. Sponsors of the bill said the purpose is to “put the whole story together.” The ranch is mentioned thousands of times in the files released by the DOJ.
The renewed investigation is the latest fallout after the release of the federal government’s files on Epstein.
Also on Thursday, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in the United Kingdom for his close relationship with Epstein, and retail magnate Les Wexner testified before the House oversight committee about his association with the late financier.
During Wexner’s hourslong testimony, he insisted that he and Epstein were not friends and claimed Epstein stole millions of dollars from his family. Additionally, Wexner said that, to his knowledge, Epstein and President Donald Trump were not friends.
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are scheduled to appear before the same committee next week.
Epstein purchased the Zorro Ranch in 1993 from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King and built a mansion, airstrip, and helicopter pad on the property.
In 2019, amid Epstein’s federal sex trafficking case in New York, the attorney general at the time interviewed possible Epstein victims who visited the ranch, but charges were never brought forth.
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The property was acquired by Don Huffines, a Republican candidate for Texas state comptroller, in 2023, and he said he plans to fully cooperate with any investigations.
Huffines said his family plans to turn the ranch into a Christian retreat and renamed it San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing.