NEWS
Epstein truth-finding commission to convene in Santa Fe
Lawmakers, NM Department of Justice must coordinate twin Zorro Ranch probes
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Some six years after the death of Jeffrey Epstein, a New Mexico truth-finding commission will convene a public meeting Monday to begin the task of probing activities at his 7,500-acre Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County.
The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in Room 307 at the State Capitol.
A key issue the commission must resolve is how to move forward with disclosures by sexual-abuse survivors without hampering a criminal probe announced by the New Mexico Department of Justice, said commission chair Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe.
The commission is not expecting to take public comment on Monday, Romero said.
"We don't want survivors to compromise their stories," she said. Instead, the commission will allow survivors to offer private testimony. "The testimony that will be provided may be on- or off-the-record."
Romero said the committee plans to develop a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Justice to avoid potential conflicts between the two investigations.
The commission recently hired the law firm Fadduol, Cluff, Hardy & Conaway to provide legal research and representation and draft reports. The contract caps payment to the firm at $750,000. The commission expects to complete an interim report by July 31, with a final report due by the end of the year.
New Mexico Attorney General Ra煤l Torrez announced in March that his office will reopen an investigation it dropped in 2019 at the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which at the time was pursuing its own investigation into Epstein.
The NMDOJ has hired Washington, D.C.-based law firm SKDK to provide legal services for its Epstein investigation. The one-year $360,000 contract requires SKDK to "leverage its existing relationships" with Epstein survivors and conduct outreach to those with New Mexico connections, according to a March 27 sole-source contract request form.
Former Attorney General Hector Balderas has said that federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to halt its investigation to avoid "risks of parallel investigations creating inconsistent statements" that defense attorneys could exploit.
The request by federal prosecutors essentially "gutted" New Mexico's investigation, said Balderas, who served as attorney general from 2014 to 2022.
The state House voted 62-0 in February to create the four-member bipartisan commission. Other members are Reps. Marianna Anaya, D-sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, and Bill Hall, R-Aztec. Reeb is a former prosecutor and Hall is a retired FBI agent.
Torrez is asking any victims abused at Jeffrey Epstein鈥檚 Zorro Ranch to contact Department of Justice Special Counsel Sean Sullivan at ssullivan@nmdoj.gov or 505-670-1239.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
