New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding access to unredacted Epstein investigative files that the DOJ has been withholding, files New Mexico says are critical to its ongoing criminal investigation into crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe.
In 2019, federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to pause its state investigation into Epstein-related crimes at Zorro Ranch, promising they would share relevant information when their own investigation concluded. New Mexico agreed, and stood down. According to the complaint, they gave up timely access to witnesses, victims, and other evidence in good faith. “New Mexico had no reason to believe federal law enforcement would break their promise,” Torrez writes in the complaint, “and deviate from historical practice just to block their state counterparts from successfully investigating child sexual abuse under state law.”
But, the complaint alleges, the information was never shared.
New Mexico reopened its investigation in February 2026, conducted the first-ever law enforcement search of Zorro Ranch on March 9, and sent a letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on March 13 requesting unredacted copies of five specific documents and general access to Zorro Ranch-related materials. A response was requested by March 27. None came. On April 1, an Associate Deputy AG said DOJ was willing to cooperate and told New Mexico to submit formal request under its Touhy regulations. The state did so on May 3, and more than 100 days later, they have received no substantive response.
So, that’s how we get this lawsuit.
The complaint is worth reading in full for its indictment of DOJ’s conduct, not just in this investigation, but across the entire history of Epstein-related federal action. Torrez argues the DOJ has “betrayed survivors and the public related to Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators at least three times.” First, the secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007 that was negotiated without consulting survivors; second, the public release of Epstein files that was required by the bipartisan Epstein Transparency Act, which had piss poor redactions that revealed personal information of the survivors; and third, the current stonewalling of New Mexico’s state criminal investigation. “Federal inaction does not merely stall the investigation,” the complaint notes. “It prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors.”
This DOJ has been deep in Epstein-related controversy for a minute. We’ve been covering Blanche’s role in the Epstein files since he flew to prison to personally interview Ghislaine Maxwell — meetings that occurred the week after reports emerged that Maxwell had assembled a birthday book for Epstein containing a personal note from Trump, after which Maxwell spoke favorably of the president and was subsequently transferred to a minimum-security facility (Senator Whitehouse has been trying to get answers about that transfer for over a year.) Blanche was sued over the broader Epstein files cover-up earlier this year. And his confirmation hearing featured him roaring “That’s not true!” when Senator Durbin pointed out that Congress had to pass the Epstein Transparency Act because the DOJ wouldn’t hand over documents voluntarily.
“The Epstein Files Transparency Act does not require, and the protective orders in place in the Southern District of New York do not permit, disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures,” a Justice Department spokesperson said. “Protecting victim privacy remains a top priority for the department, and neither Touhy requests nor a desire to cooperate outweighs that privacy. DOJ remains available to assist New Mexico’s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.”
Blanche spent his confirmation hearing insisting DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files was above board. New Mexico just filed 40 pages saying otherwise, and named him personally in the suit. Will any of this matter to the senators getting ready to vote on Blanche’s nomination? Probably not — and history will judge them accordingly.
Read the full complaint below.
Earlier: Todd Blanche’s Top Priority Appears To Be Keeping Key Epstein Files From Seeing Light Of Day
Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer
Todd Blanche Sued Over Epstein Files Cover Up
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump’s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won’t Put His Promises In Writin
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
The post The DOJ Has Betrayed Epstein Survivors — New Mexico Is Suing Over The Latest Issue appeared first on Above the Law.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding access to unredacted Epstein investigative files that the DOJ has been withholding, files New Mexico says are critical to its ongoing criminal investigation into crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe.
In 2019, federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to pause its state investigation into Epstein-related crimes at Zorro Ranch, promising they would share relevant information when their own investigation concluded. New Mexico agreed, and stood down. According to the complaint, they gave up timely access to witnesses, victims, and other evidence in good faith. “New Mexico had no reason to believe federal law enforcement would break their promise,” Torrez writes in the complaint, “and deviate from historical practice just to block their state counterparts from successfully investigating child sexual abuse under state law.”
But, the complaint alleges, the information was never shared.
New Mexico reopened its investigation in February 2026, conducted the first-ever law enforcement search of Zorro Ranch on March 9, and sent a letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on March 13 requesting unredacted copies of five specific documents and general access to Zorro Ranch-related materials. A response was requested by March 27. None came. On April 1, an Associate Deputy AG said DOJ was willing to cooperate and told New Mexico to submit formal request under its Touhy regulations. The state did so on May 3, and more than 100 days later, they have received no substantive response.
So, that’s how we get this lawsuit.
The complaint is worth reading in full for its indictment of DOJ’s conduct, not just in this investigation, but across the entire history of Epstein-related federal action. Torrez argues the DOJ has “betrayed survivors and the public related to Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators at least three times.” First, the secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007 that was negotiated without consulting survivors; second, the public release of Epstein files that was required by the bipartisan Epstein Transparency Act, which had piss poor redactions that revealed personal information of the survivors; and third, the current stonewalling of New Mexico’s state criminal investigation. “Federal inaction does not merely stall the investigation,” the complaint notes. “It prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors.”
This DOJ has been deep in Epstein-related controversy for a minute. We’ve been covering Blanche’s role in the Epstein files since he flew to prison to personally interview Ghislaine Maxwell — meetings that occurred the week after reports emerged that Maxwell had assembled a birthday book for Epstein containing a personal note from Trump, after which Maxwell spoke favorably of the president and was subsequently transferred to a minimum-security facility (Senator Whitehouse has been trying to get answers about that transfer for over a year.) Blanche was sued over the broader Epstein files cover-up earlier this year. And his confirmation hearing featured him roaring “That’s not true!” when Senator Durbin pointed out that Congress had to pass the Epstein Transparency Act because the DOJ wouldn’t hand over documents voluntarily.
“The Epstein Files Transparency Act does not require, and the protective orders in place in the Southern District of New York do not permit, disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures,” a Justice Department spokesperson said. “Protecting victim privacy remains a top priority for the department, and neither Touhy requests nor a desire to cooperate outweighs that privacy. DOJ remains available to assist New Mexico’s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.”
Blanche spent his confirmation hearing insisting DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files was above board. New Mexico just filed 40 pages saying otherwise, and named him personally in the suit. Will any of this matter to the senators getting ready to vote on Blanche’s nomination? Probably not — and history will judge them accordingly.
Read the full complaint below.
Earlier: Todd Blanche’s Top Priority Appears To Be Keeping Key Epstein Files From Seeing Light Of Day
Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer
Todd Blanche Sued Over Epstein Files Cover Up
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump’s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won’t Put His Promises In Writin
New-Mexico-sues-DOJ-Epstein-Zorro-Ranch-probeDownload
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
