How Epstein lured girls to Zorro Ranch and kept authorities away

The women did not speak out about their abuse for years because, they say, Epstein used money and threats to silence them. If they said so, it warned of financial, reputational or physical harm.

But eventually, some women spoke to law enforcement. In 2006, Farmer spoke to an FBI agent investigating allegations against Epstein in Florida about his trip to New Mexico with Epstein and Maxwell a decade earlier. The Florida-based FBI agent wrote a report based on the interview.

The FBI continued to “train witnesses and victims across the United States,” according to an agency memo. This included at least one interview with someone associated with Epstein in New Mexico in early 2007.

But the Zorro Ranch information went nowhere: After two years of investigation and plea negotiations, Alex Acosta, then the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, agreed in 2008 to let Epstein plead guilty to state charges and avoid a federal case, in a deal later criticized by a Justice Department watchdog as reflecting “poor judgment.” (Acosta said prosecutors opted for a plea deal because they feared it would be difficult to secure a conviction at trial.)

The investigation into possible crimes in New Mexico has ended.

In 2009, Epstein completed his prison sentence in Florida and, as part of his plea deal there, began the process of registering as a sex offender in the places where he lived. In New Mexico, the state Department of Public Safety informed Epstein by letter that he needed to register with the local sheriff.

But a month later, after a detective met with Epstein at his ranch, the state said in a second letter that he was not required to register after all. Because Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida to misconduct with a victim over 16, which is the age of consent in New Mexico, authorities determined that he did not commit a child sex offense requiring registration, according to a subsequent Justice Department review. Epstein also had sexual contact with a 14-year-old victim, according to a report his mother made to police in Palm Beach, Fla., but that was not included in the plea deal and therefore did not matter to New Mexico’s sex offender registry.

This meant that Epstein did not need to register with New Mexico police and his name was not listed on an online list. The Justice Department’s review later determined that Epstein’s lawyers “did extensive research” on how the deal would affect Epstein’s sex offender registration in other states, but prosecutors “did not anticipate” that Epstein would escape the sex offender registry in New Mexico.

Epstein continued to host scientists, celebrities and tech executives at his ranch – and continued to claim at least one victim. A woman who called herself Priscilla Doe said in a lawsuit years later that Epstein repeatedly took her to New Mexico between 2007 and 2010, using wealth and threats to coerce her into having sex with him and his friends.

Priscilla Doe said that when she met Epstein in New York, she was a poor aspiring ballet dancer in her early 20s who needed money to pay her mother’s rent. Epstein repeatedly told her “that her opportunities were endless as long as she complied with his dictates, but that he could take everything away from her if she didn’t,” according to her complaint.

Epstein’s state land lease shows how little attention he received from New Mexico, even after he became famous. State officials have broad discretion in deciding who will lease public lands, but for decades they renewed Epstein’s 1,200-acre lease without complaint, even though its stated purpose, livestock grazing, was later deemed questionable by state officials.