As the police search for the first time Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico looking for evidence of any abuse he committed at this Old West-themed hideout, the focus is on powerful former state politicians who continued to meet with and receive campaign donations from Epstein long after his sex offender status became known, according to a Reuters article.
Epstein’s relationships with state Democratic Party leaders, including two former governors and a state attorney generaland the institutional failures that may have allowed the convicted sex offender to perpetrate abuse at the ranch are under investigation by a New Mexico state “truth commission,” the first of its kind in the country.
Zorro Ranchwhere Epstein spent approximately two months a year, was supposedly a center of his child sex trafficking ring that stretched between the US Virgin Islands, New York and Floridaaccording to a 2020 letter from the New Mexico Attorney General’s office and numerous documents among the millions recently released by the Department of Justice.
Epstein spent relatively little to establish himself as a major financial force in Democratic-governed New Mexico. He donated just over $160,000 in five elections between 2002 and 2014.according to interviews and a review of campaign financial records. He was often the largest outside donor to campaigns, even after his first sex crimes conviction in 2008.
Reuters has found no evidence that Epstein received anything in return for his donations.
Epstein’s ties to the late former Governor Bill Richardson are well documented. The state’s former top law enforcement officer, Gary King, also had contact with Epstein after he was convicted of serious sex crimes, including an encounter with him in 2010. Epstein donated to dozens of American politicians, but almost all cut ties with him after the Florida conviction.
“Once you know what happened, continuing to accept campaign contributions is reprehensible,” U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández said during a protest at Zorro Ranch on March 8, when asked about the relationship between Epstein, Richardson and King.
Leger Fernández is among those who question why federal, state and local authorities never investigated allegations of sexual abuse at the ranch and why federal authorities told state investigators to drop a child trafficking investigation in 2019 but never searched or seized the ranch before its 2023 sale.
King, 71, said he never visited Epstein’s ranch and never asked the late financier for campaign donations after his Florida conviction.
“I personally told Mr. Epstein that the campaign would not accept contributions from him as a result of his admitted criminal activities,” King, New Mexico’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015, said in a statement in response to questions from Reuters about the campaign letters. King claims he had no knowledge that the letters asking for funds were sent to Epstein.
“Victoria’s Secret Ranch”
In 1993, Epstein purchased 7,500 acres of land from three-time New Mexico Gov. Bruce King and other members of his powerful New Mexico political family, according to county records. Gary King, son of Bruce King, was a party to the sale. In his statement to Reuters, the younger King said that Epstein paid around $3.75 million “for the land”a fair market value at the time, according to research from New Mexico State University. Bruce King died in 2009.
Epstein proceeded to build what became known locally as “Victoria’s Secret Ranch” after the lingerie models rumored to go there, three local people told Reuters.
Epstein, a networking expert, invited scientists, politicians, billionaires and Hollywood celebrities to the ranchwhere some talked about “the girls,” emails in Epstein’s files show.
In 2006, Epstein donated $15,000 to Gary King’s campaign. King told Reuters he did not return that money because in 2006 he was not aware of any reports of wrongdoing by Epstein.
He also acknowledged meeting Epstein once, in 2010 at the Jinja restaurant in Santa Fe, where they had tea and Epstein expressed his condolences for the death of King’s father.
When King ran for governor in 2014, Epstein donated $35,600 to the campaign, the largest outside donationrecords show. King returned the 2014 funds to Epstein’s companies three days after they were published in the press on September 9 of that year. King is retired from politics and is now president of a charity called the New Mexico Children’s Foundation.
As attorney general, King claims, he led a robust outreach program to combat crimes against children and human trafficking, and was not briefed on Epstein’s alleged crimes. The New Mexico Department of Justice declined to comment.
A document shows that FBI agents visited the New Mexico ranch in February 2007, when King was in charge of law enforcement in New Mexico, and manager Brice Gordon questioned about “masseuses” Epstein flew in or hired locally. Reuters was unable to contact Gordon. King said the U.S. Department of Justice never informed his office of any investigation involving Epstein or his associates, and Reuters found no evidence that King was aware of a federal investigation into Epstein at the time.
Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Ben Valdez said in a statement that his department was not aware of any reports related to Epstein. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, in whose jurisdiction the ranch is located, said it is investigating any allegations it received about Epstein. New Mexico State Police did not respond to a request for comment.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez reopened the state investigation into Epstein in February.
