New Mexico lawmakers to blast out subpoenas in Epstein investigation
New Mexico lawmakers said Monday they are demanding documents from an array of government and private institutions as the first major step in their effort to tell the full story of what Jeffrey Epstein did in the state — and whether any others should be prosecuted for crimes ther
New Mexico lawmakers said Monday they are demanding documents from an array of government and private institutions as the first major step in their effort to tell the full story of what Jeffrey Epstein did in the state — and whether any others should be prosecuted for crimes there.
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A committee known as the New Mexico Truth Commission expects to send subpoenas this week to 14 targets. That includes federal agencies that investigated Epstein in the past — the U.S. Justice Department and FBI — as well as state and local law enforcement agencies that looked into Epstein. Demands are also expected to go to Epstein’s former banks — Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase — and the Santa Fe Institute, a nonprofit scientific research institution that Epstein supported.
If the committee finds evidence that someone committed a crime that can be prosecuted, it will refer the case to the appropriate law enforcement agency, either in New Mexico or elsewhere, members said.
The goal is to “build a complete documented public record,” Republican state Rep. Andrea Reeb said in a meeting at the New Mexico State Capitol. “We will name what happened, we will name who was responsible, and we will do so with the evidentiary regard that survivors deserve and that the law requires.”
The commission is already working with the New Mexico Department of Justice, which has reopened a criminal investigation that was shut down in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York. That agency is also seeking Epstein records from federal authorities.
Epstein, who bought a ranch outside Santa Fe in 1993 and typically visited several times a year, was never charged with crimes in New Mexico, despite allegations of sex crimes dating back decades.
At least 10 women have alleged that Epstein groomed or abused them at the 10,000-acre ranch starting in the mid-1990s, an NBC News review of court testimony, lawsuits and other records found. Half were teenagers when they said Epstein harmed them. No law enforcement agency had searched the ranch until earlier this year.
