New Mexico sues justice department for ‘stonewalling’ Epstein investigation

New Mexico filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice and acting attorney general Todd Blanche on Wednesday for “stonewalling” its criminal investigation into the activities of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at a remote ranch in the state.

Raúl Torrez, the New Mexico attorney general, had said he was mulling the possibility of legal action if the justice department (DoJ) did not share with him by 31 July information about the alleged historical abuse of girls and young women at Epstein’s Zorro ranch about 30 miles south of Santa Fe.

Wednesday’s filing, seen by the Guardian, delivers on that threat after the DoJ appeared to ignore last Friday’s deadline.

The lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the district of Columbia, alleges that Blanche and his department had “stonewalled” the state investigation that Torrez reopened in February after the 10,000-acre Zorro property was mentioned thousands of times in recent releases of the so-called Epstein files.

Bold News stores the normalized extraction for evidence and analysis. This public wrapper shows a limited excerpt; use the original link for the publisher's complete presentation.