New Mexico’s attorney general sued the U.S. Department of Justice, accusing it of blocking the state from investigating sex crimes at Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch near Santa Fe.
Background
The lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stonewalled New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s criminal investigation into Epstein and others, taking steps that “actively harms victims and undermines the public interest.”
The lawsuit sought judicial intervention to force the federal government to turn over materials to New Mexico’s investigators. It was filed the same day that the New Mexico House of Representatives released a report saying “those directly responsible for protecting New Mexicans relied on others to do their job,” including federal prosecutors in New York.
Investigation
According to the Washington lawsuit, Torrez and his senior prosecutors “have faced sustained resistance” to the kind of information-sharing common between state and federal investigators.
In a statement, the Justice Department said it was not releasing some information the state requested because federal court orders ban disclosing “victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures.”
The lawsuit said the Justice Department and Blanche were hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators when New Mexico is one of the few jurisdictions that may still be able to hold Epstein’s associates accountable or “provide some sense of justice to survivors.”
Reaction
In a video conference call with reporters, Torrez said his office has made 10 separate requests for key information and has been ignored or denied.
“We have heard repeatedly they will cooperate and what our team has experienced is anything but cooperation,” Torrez said.
Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 after he was denied bail on sex trafficking charges lodged against him when he was arrested a month earlier.
Original reporting: NBC10 Boston — read the source article.
