New Mexico lawmakers have launched an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch over allegations of sexual abuse taking place at the rural property, and concerns that alleged crimes were never fully investigated by federal and state law enforcement.
The state’s House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation on Monday that creates a bipartisan “truth commission,” which will review allegations of abuse having taken place at the Santa Fe-area property while it was owned by the late sex offender.
The goal of the investigation, said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) in a video address Monday, is “to understand why the crimes that were reported to federal and state authorities were never fully investigated and to ensure that we have safeguards in place to not only hold those individuals accountable, who were complicit, but to ensure that this never happens again in our state.”
The committee is required to submit an interim report on its findings by the end of July and a final report by the end of the year. This final report will detail “the investigative procedures carried out by the committee, the findings and conclusions the committee made through carrying out those procedures and the committee’s recommendations,” according to a copy of the resolution.
Epstein owned the sprawling property from 1993 until his death in 2019. It was then purchased in 2023 by Texas businessman and former Republican state Senator Donald Huffines, who is currently running for comptroller in Texas, a spokesperson for his family confirmed to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Huffines, who bills himself as “a courageous MAGA Republican,” never visited the property before its purchase, the spokesperson said.
Several civil suits have accused Epstein of sexually assaulting girls at the property during his ownership, though he was never charged in relation to those allegations. The survivors allegedly include the late Virginia Giuffre, who provided photos that she said were taken of herself at the ranch in a 2015 court document.
Stansbury called Huffines’ purchase of the property “interesting” because of his use of a Limited Liability Company to complete the sale, which allowed him to complete the purchase anonymously. She also identified Huffines’ son as working in the Trump administration.
Representatives for Huffines did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment Tuesday.
“Now, we don’t know if these ties mean anything but what we do know is that this property is a property in which multiple survivors have reported abuse,” Stansbury said, while detailing some of the allegations, including that two women were killed and buried on the property following a sex act.
New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard last week called on federal and state law enforcement to investigate the public land surrounding Epstein’s former property following the buried bodies claim.