New Mexico sues US Justice Department for access to unredacted Epstein files on Zorro Ranch

Lawsuit filed

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, asking a federal judge to compel Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to release unredacted Epstein files. The state alleges the DOJ is "stonewalling" its investigation by withholding documents critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch, a property Epstein owned in Santa Fe County from 1993 until his death in 2019. The suit asks the court to declare the DOJ's refusal unlawful and order the release of the files, or alternatively require the department to reconsider the request under its own regulations.

State investigation reopened

New Mexico reopened its Epstein investigation in February 2026 and conducted the first law enforcement search of Zorro Ranch the following month. Over five months into the probe, Torrez has yet to announce any results. The state claims the DOJ reneged on a 2019 agreement under which New Mexico agreed to pause its investigation and hand over evidence to federal prosecutors in exchange for continued information sharing on alleged survivors and crimes. Torrez said in March that the investigation faced obstacles including the decades lapsed since Epstein's alleged crimes, the disappearance of evidence after the ranch was sold in 2023, and possible jurisdictional issues.

We haven't charged someone because we need to see those files before we charge someone.

DOJ pushes back

The Justice Department has said it provided some files but was prevented from supplying other material due to privacy protections. A DOJ spokesperson said that under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in November 2025, and protective court orders, the department was neither required nor permitted to disclose victim-identifying information. The spokesperson said New Mexico had provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures and that protecting victim privacy remains a top priority. In July 2026, the New Mexico DOJ said the Southern District of New York office had called to inform them they would not cooperate or support the only active criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. A DOJ spokesperson called that characterization "false."

Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.

Background

Epstein died by suicide on August 10, 2019, at age 66 in a New York City federal jail after being denied bail on sex trafficking charges. His associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking. Witness testimony in one of Maxwell's trials alleged that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused women at the New Mexico ranch. Survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in 2025, had warned that crimes took place at Zorro Ranch. A conservative talk show host also approached the FBI after receiving an anonymous tip about sexual abuse at the site and "the location of two foreign girls buried on Zorro Ranch," a tip that has not been corroborated.

What happens next

A federal judge must first determine whether the Justice Department was required to disclose the records under the regulations cited by New Mexico. The lawsuit escalates a dispute between Torrez, a Democrat, and the Republican Trump administration that has been building for months. The state's complaint argues that federal inaction does not merely stall the investigation but prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors.