State of New Mexico sues Justice Department and Todd Blanche, saying they blocked its Epstein probe

CEDAR CREST, N.M. (AP) — The state of New Mexico sued the Department of Justice and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday, saying the federal government blocked the state's ability to investigate the sex crimes of financier Jeffrey Epstein at a ranch there.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the Justice Department and Blanche stonewalled New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s criminal investigation into Epstein and others, taking steps that “actively harms victims and undermines the public interest.”

The lawsuit, which seeks judicial intervention to force the federal government to turn over relevant materials to New Mexico's investigators, was filed on the same day that New Mexico is releasing a report showing its preliminary findings from an ongoing probe into Epstein and his ranch.

Torrez and his senior prosecutors “have faced sustained resistance” to the kind of information-sharing that had occurred in the past between state and federal investigators, the lawsuit said.

A message seeking comment from the Justice Department on Wednesday was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit said the Justice Department insisted that information requests be formal and rejected them after they were made.

As a result, the lawsuit added, the Justice Department and Blanche were hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators when New Mexico is one of the few jurisdictions that may still be able to hold Epstein's associates accountable or “provide some sense of justice to survivors.”

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.

His former girlfriend and close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking charges at a trial in Manhattan, where some of the witness testimony alleged that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused women at the New Mexico ranch.

Epstein purchased his sprawling estate in Stanley, New Mexico, a sparsely populated ranching community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private airstrip and helipad.

The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, a Republican who was recently appointed state comptroller in Texas. In a February social media post on X, Huffines said the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing and that his family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.

In December, the Justice Department started releasing investigative records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Complaints quickly arose about shoddy redactions and too many sealed materials from accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency act. Records that were released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context.

AP writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this report from New York.