New Mexico’s attorney general sued the Justice Department on Wednesday over its refusal to share unredacted documents from its files on Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that the Trump administration was obstructing the state’s criminal investigation of the disgraced financier.
The move by Raúl Torrez, New Mexico’s top law enforcement officer, escalated the ongoing feud between the state and the federal government, which centers on Mr. Epstein’s activities at his vast high-desert ranch outside Santa Fe, where his victims say they were trafficked and abused.
In the filing, Mr. Torrez accused Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, and other Justice Department leaders of “stonewalling” New Mexico’s inquiry into Mr. Epstein’s possible crimes in the state.
“Their conduct now actively harms victims and undermines the public interest,” Mr. Torrez wrote.
New Mexico officials, who began their investigation of Mr. Epstein’s Zorro Ranch property in February, have argued for months that original copies of the Epstein files are crucial to their work. The documents, they claim, contain names of survivors, witnesses, co-conspirators and others who could help prosecutors build a case.
The filing said Mr. Torrez and other state investigators had repeatedly requested access to the records but had “faced sustained resistance to the type of information-sharing that has been routine from U.S.D.O.J. under prior administrations of both political parties.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman, Kiersten Pels, said a court-directed protective order did not permit “disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures.”
“D.O.J. remains available to assist New Mexico’s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders,” Ms. Pels said.
The lawsuit filed on Wednesday was the latest sign of a yearslong breakdown in cooperation between state and federal authorities, which had allowed Zorro Ranch to escape scrutiny, even as the police descended on Mr. Epstein’s properties in New York, Miami and the Caribbean. Despite the sprawling estate’s prominent place in Mr. Epstein’s empire of abuse — Zorro Ranch is mentioned more than 10,000 times in the Epstein files — New Mexico leaders say law enforcement never thoroughly searched the property.
New Mexico officials have blamed federal prosecutors, who in 2019 directed the state to pause an initial criminal investigation into Mr. Epstein and share its findings with the federal government, whose lawyers believed they could build a stronger case. But after they took charge, federal prosecutors appeared to overlook Zorro Ranch, according to Hector Balderas, a former New Mexico attorney general, and emails pertaining to Zorro that were unsealed in the Epstein files.
The revelation that the property had gone largely ignored prompted Mr. Torrez to reopen his agency’s case against Mr. Epstein earlier this year, and it led New Mexico lawmakers to establish a bipartisan “truth commission,” equipped with subpoena power, which has also been looking into Zorro Ranch.
In his Wednesday brief, Mr. Torrez said the refusals by the Justice Department to share access to Epstein records violated longstanding agreements between state and federal law enforcement agencies. New Mexico’s lawsuit cited several examples of cooperation between the state and federal authorities on similar criminal cases of sexual abuse and human trafficking. The Justice Department, the lawsuit states, “is now reneging on both historical practice and its promised cooperation.”
“Federal inaction does not merely stall the investigation,” Mr. Torrez wrote in the legal brief, “it prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors.”
New Mexico officials have acknowledged that critical evidence may have been lost or destroyed since Mr. Epstein’s death nearly seven years ago, but they say they are nevertheless best positioned to pursue a criminal investigation and try to secure justice for his victims.
In March, state investigators began a search of the ranch, which is now owned by a Dallas real estate magnate named Don Huffines, the recently appointed comptroller of Texas. Mr. Huffines has said he is cooperating with the state case.
Mr. Torrez has also ordered companies to preserve records related to Mr. Epstein and his associates, and the state truth commission has sent subpoenas to a range of government agencies and financial institutions.
But without help from the Justice Department, Mr. Torrez said New Mexico’s investigation may be limited. Behind the documents’ heavy redactions, he said, are the identities of members of Mr. Epstein’s inner circle, along with those of Zorro Ranch staff members, who may have participated in or witnessed abuse on the property.
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