New Mexico lawmakers on Monday (Feb 16, 2026) approved legislation to launch the first full investigation into what happened at Zorro Ranch, where US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is accused of trafficking and sexually abusing girls and women.
The bipartisan committee will seek testimony from victims of sexual abuse at the ranch about 30 miles south of the state capital, Santa Fe. Legislators are also asking local residents to testify.
Epstein committed suicide in a New York prison in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges.
The truth commission, made up of four lawmakers, will seek to identify ranch guests and state officials who knew what was going on at the 7,600-acre property or sexually assaulted them in its hacienda-style mansion and guest houses.
The Democratic-led investigation will add to the political pressure to uncover Epstein’s crimes, a major challenge for President Donald Trump, shedding new light on operations at the ranch weeks after the Justice Department released millions of Epstein-related files.
The files reveal ties between Epstein and two former Democratic governors and New Mexico’s attorney general.
The legislation, which passed New Mexico’s House of Representatives by a unanimous vote, would pose risks to any additional politicians associated with Epstein in the Democratic-run state, as well as scientists, investors and other high-profile figures who visited the ranch.
The $2.5 million investigation, which is subpoena-authorized, aims to close loopholes in New Mexico law that allowed Epstein to operate in the state. The committee will begin work on Tuesday (February 17, 2027) and will present interim findings in July and a final report by the end of the year.
“He’s doing whatever he wants in this state with basically no accountability,” said New Mexico state Rep. Andrea Romero, a Democrat, who co-sponsored the initiative.
She said the testimony given to the committee will be used in future investigations.
Victim advocates praised the move, saying the Zorro Ranch was overlooked by federal investigations focused on Epstein’s Caribbean island and New York townhouse.
“Many of the survivors had experiences in New Mexico, and as we learned, local politicians and other people knew what was going on in New Mexico,” said attorney Sigrid McCawley, whose law firm has represented hundreds of Epstein survivors.
Among them was the late Virginia Giuffre, who was abused several times at the ranch, she said.
The US Department of Justice referred a request for comment to the FBI. The FBI declined comment.
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Epstein worked on the ranch for decades
Several civil lawsuits allege that Epstein sexually assaulted girls at the Zorro Ranch. He was never charged with the alleged crimes.
There are no records of federal law enforcement searching what is known locally as the “Playboy Ranch” where Epstein sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1996, Mr. Romero said.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas opened an investigation in 2019, which was halted at the request of federal prosecutors to avoid a “parallel investigation.”
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has appointed a special agent to investigate the allegations brought by the Truth Commission, spokeswoman Lauren Rodriguez said.
Democratic State Representative Mariana Anaya, an advocate for sexual abuse survivors who co-sponsored the legislation, is working to extend New Mexico’s childhood sexual abuse statute of limitations, which allows civil actions against survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuse.
Epstein bought the ranch in 1993 from Bruce King, the three-term Democratic governor of New Mexico who died in 2009.
The financier took in guests and “massages” and hired local massage therapists to work there, ranch manager Bryce Gordon told the FBI in 2007, according to a report in the Epstein files.
In an unsealed 2016 court deposition, Giuffre testified that Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell told the late New Mexico governor Bill Richardson to give him a “massage” at the ranch. In Giuffre’s memoir, she says that Maxwell’s suggestion to provide a “massage” was to provide the victim with a sexual encounter with the abuser.
Richardson spokeswoman Madeleine Mahoney 2019 announcement Nalo Giuffre said the allegations were “absolutely false”.
Gordon told the FBI that many of the masseuses Epstein used at the ranch were hired locally by Spa Ten Thousand Waves, a Santa Fe firm, or through referrals.
Spa spokeswoman Sarah Bean said in a phone interview last Tuesday that Ten Thousand Waves does not offer or prescribe massages at Zorro Ranch.
In the documentary “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” former Santa Fe massage therapist Rachel Benavidez accused Epstein of sexually assaulting her when she was hired to work on the ranch.
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Investment consultant Joshua Ramo said Sunday (Feb. 15, 2026) that he visited the ranch once for a 2014 lunch on behalf of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University professors. The CEO of consulting firm Kissinger Associates, Mr. Ramo said he and Epstein met with business leaders and scientists about 14 times in New York between 2013 and 2016.
“I deferred to the due diligence of the entities involved, assuming that his presence indicated that he had been adequately vetted,” Mr. Ramo, in a statement, said of the ranch visit. “I feel deep sorrow for the survivors of his crimes.”
Epstein in 2015 Mr. Emails show Ramo contacted Ramo to tell him he was going to Ten Thousand Waves, and suggested meeting for lunch in Santa Fe. Mr. Ramo responded, “I imagine we’re meeting at the Rose Bottom Ranch.” Ramo, who is now CEO of consulting firm Sorne LLC, said he does not remember the remark, or whether the two met that day.
Over the years, Epstein has contributed to the political campaigns of New Mexico Democrats such as Richardson and King’s son Gary King, a former New Mexico attorney general. When donations were reported in the press, men pledged to return the money or give it to charity.
Gary King flew on a plane chartered by Epstein while running for governor of New Mexico in 2014, according to emails in the Epstein files. Epstein said he would cover half the cost of the $22,000 charter and the king would pay the rest. King did not respond to a request for comment.
