Los Alamos Reporter

NMDOJ: Former AG Balderas Says New Mexico and SDNY Struck A Deal on Epstein in 2019 — The Federal Government Never Held Up Its End

NMDOJ NEWS RELEASE

Letter details the terms of a prosecutorial agreement between the 2019 NMAG investigation and the Southern District of New York, and cites a federal record as evidence of its terms

In a letter to Attorney General Raúl Torrez, former Attorney General Hector Balderas laid out new detail on how his administration’s independent investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch property intersected with the federal prosecution out of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), and the specific terms both sides allegedly agreed to. 

The 2019 investigation: 

  • Balderas’s office opened its own investigation into Epstein and Zorro Ranch in early 2019, working with plaintiffs’ counsel to identify victims with a New Mexico connection. 
  • By mid-2019, NMAG investigators had located and begun formally interviewing victims with potential knowledge of criminal conduct at the ranch, building a case in parallel with the emerging federal investigation. 

The agreement with SDNY: 

  • Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges on July 6, 2019. SDNY contacted Balderas’s office shortly after, initially frustrated that state investigators were interviewing witnesses SDNY considered part of its own case. 
  • Balderas states the two offices reached an explicit agreement: NMAG would stop its interviews and turn over what it had gathered, and SDNY would in turn refer any state-related matters — including material later surfaced in the redacted Epstein files — back to New Mexico once its case concluded. 
  • Balderas cites a federal record released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a handwritten investigator’s note (EFTA01681971), as documentation of that agreement’s terms. 

“Former Attorney General Balderas has confirmed something we’ve said all along: New Mexico honored its side of an agreement with the federal government, and the federal government did not honor its own,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “That breach doesn’t weaken our position, it strengthens it. New Mexico is entitled to these records, and we will use every tool available, including litigation, to obtain them.” 

Background — NMDOJ’s request for access: 

  • February 13, 2026: Written correspondence to then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche requesting access to a specific EFTA document and all related Zorro Ranch investigative materials. 
  • March 13, 2026: Formal letter to Attorney General Bondi identifying five illustrative redacted EFTA documents and requesting complete, unredacted versions of all pertinent records. 
  • April 1, 2026: Telephone conference with Associate Deputy AG Pestana, in which USDOJ affirmed its commitment to cooperation and directed NMDOJ to submit a formal Touhy letter through standard channels. 
  • May 3, 2026: Comprehensive Touhy letter submitted to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and FBI Albuquerque Special Agent in Charge Justin Garris. 
  • May 29, 2026: Written follow-up to Acting Attorney General Blanche and Associate Deputy AG Pestana renewing the request after no substantive response to the Touhy submission. 
  • June 4–5, 2026: Meeting requests to Blanche’s office and an Associate Deputy AG seeking an in-person meeting went unanswered. 
  • June 9, 2026: AG Torrez sends a letter to Acting Attorney General Blanche detailing the 2019 NMAG-SDNY agreement and seeking broad remedies, including forfeiture of the Zorro Ranch property. 
  • June 30, 2026: Formal written demand transmitted as a final request for compliance prior to pursuing legal remedies, setting a deadline of July 31, 2026 for access to all relevant records. 
  • July 10, 2026: USAO-DNM hand-delivers its production: 31 pages consisting almost entirely of documents already released through the EFTA portal, redacted materials offering no new investigative content, and photocopies of local news coverage. 
  • July 13, 2026: Contact attempted with USAO-SDNY representatives to obtain materials purportedly sent but never received. 
  • July 14, 2026: NMDOJ sends a final written demand to Acting Attorney General Blanche and Associate Deputy AG Pestana, renewing its request for in-person access to the complete, unredacted investigative record and reiterating that absent access by July 31, 2026, NMDOJ will treat the request as denied and pursue all available legal remedies. 
  • July 20, 2026: Former AG Balderas sends a letter to AG Torrez corroborating the 2019 SDNY agreement and asserting the federal government’s continued refusal constitutes a breach.