SANTA
FE — New Mexico lawmakers on Monday passed legislation to launch what
they said was the first full investigation into what happened at Zorro
Ranch, where the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is accused of
trafficking and sexually assaulting girls and women.
A
bipartisan committee will seek testimony from survivors of alleged
sexual abuse at the ranch, located about 30 miles south of Santa Fe, the
state capital. Legislators are also urging local residents to testify.
Epstein died in what was ruled a suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges.
The
so-called truth commission, comprising four lawmakers, seeks to
identify ranch guests and state officials who may have known what was
going on at the 7,600-acre property, or taken part in alleged sexual
abuse in its hacienda-style mansion and guest houses.
The
Democratic-led investigation adds to political pressure to uncover
Epstein’s crimes that has become a major challenge for President Donald
Trump, weeks after the Justice Department released millions of
Epstein-related files that shed new light on activities at the ranch.
The files reveal ties between Epstein and two former Democratic governors and an attorney general of New Mexico.
The
legislation, which passed New Mexico’s House of Representatives by a
unanimous vote, could pose risks to any additional politicians linked to
Epstein in the Democratic-run state, as well as scientists, investors
and other high-profile individuals who visited the ranch.
The
$2.5 million investigation, which has subpoena power, aims to close
gaps in New Mexico law that may have allowed Epstein to operate in the
state. The committee starts work on Tuesday, and will deliver interim
findings in July and a final report by year-end.
“He was basically
doing anything he wanted in this state without any accountability
whatsoever,” said New Mexico state Representative Andrea Romero, a
Democrat, who co-sponsored the initiative.
Testimony to the committee could be used for future prosecutions, she said.
Victim
advocates applauded the move, saying Zorro Ranch had been overlooked by
federal investigations that focused on Epstein’s Caribbean island and
New York townhouse.
“Many of
the survivors had experiences in New Mexico, and as we’ve learned, you
know, there were local politicians and other people that were aware of
what was happening in New Mexico,” said attorney Sigrid McCawley, whose
law firm has represented hundreds of Epstein survivors.
They include the late Virginia Giuffre, who was abused many times at the ranch, she said.
The U.S. Department of Justice passed a request for comment to the FBI. The FBI declined comment.
Several civil suits accuse Epstein of sexually assaulting girls at Zorro Ranch. He was never charged for the alleged offenses.
Romero
said there was no record of federal law enforcement searching what was
known locally as “the playboy ranch” where Epstein is accused of
sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl as early as 1996.
Former
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas launched a probe in 2019
that was put on hold at the request of federal prosecutors to avoid
“parallel investigation,” he said in a statement.
New
Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has assigned a special agent to
probe allegations that may come through the truth commission,
spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez said.
Democratic
State Representative Marianna Anaya, an advocate for sexual assault
survivors who co-sponsored the legislation, is working on accompanying
legislation to extend New Mexico’s statute of limitations for childhood
sexual assault that would allow civil actions by survivors of Epstein’s
alleged abuse.
Epstein bought the ranch in 1993 from Bruce King, a three-time New Mexico Democratic governor who died in 2009.
The
financier flew in guests and “masseuses,” and hired local massage
therapists to work there, ranch manager Brice Gordon told the FBI in
2007, according to a report in the Epstein files.
In
an unsealed 2016 court deposition, Giuffre testified Epstein’s partner
Ghislaine Maxwell told her to give the late former New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson a “massage” at the ranch. In Giuffre’s memoir, she said
an instruction from Maxwell to provide a “massage” meant a victim should
provide a sexual encounter to an abuser.
Richardson’s representative Madeleine Mahoney in a 2019 statement said Giuffre’s allegations were “completely false.”
Gordon
told the FBI that most of the masseuses Epstein used at the ranch were
hired locally through the spa Ten Thousand Waves, a Santa Fe
institution, or by referrals.
Spa
spokesperson Sara Bean said in a phone interview last Tuesday that Ten
Thousand Waves neither provided nor referred masseuses to Zorro Ranch.
In
the documentary “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” former Santa Fe massage
therapist Rachel Benavidez accused Epstein of sexual abuse when she was
hired to work at the ranch.
Investment
consultant Joshua Ramo said on Sunday he visited the ranch once for a
2014 lunch on behalf of professors from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Harvard University, who were present. Ramo, at the time
CEO of consulting firm Kissinger Associates, said he and Epstein met
with business figures and scientists around 14 times in New York between
2013 and 2016.
“I deferred
to the due diligence of the institutions involved, assuming that his
presence signaled he had been appropriately vetted,” Ramo, in a
statement, said of the ranch visit. “I feel a deep sense of grief for
the survivors of his crimes.”
Emails
show Epstein contacted Ramo in 2015 to tell him he was going to Ten
Thousand Waves, suggesting they meet for lunch in Santa Fe. Ramo
responded, “I assumed we were meeting at the pink bottom ranch.” Ramo,
who is currently CEO of consulting firm Sornay LLC, said he had no
recollection of that comment, or whether the two met that day.
Over
the years, Epstein contributed to the political campaigns of New Mexico
Democrats such as Richardson and King’s son Gary King, a former New
Mexico attorney general. When contributions were reported in the press,
the men pledged to either return the money, or give it to charity.
Gary
King flew on a plane chartered by Epstein when he was running for New
Mexico governor in 2014, according to emails in the Epstein files.
Epstein said he would cover around half the cost of the $22,000 charter
and King would pay the rest. King did not respond to a request for
comment.
