Zorro Ranch Investigation, Part 2: Inside the Compound

Category: Institutional / Evidence Analysis
Date: March 28, 2026
See also: Part 1 — How SDNY Halted the Zorro Ranch Investigation

Executive Summary

Federal court records establish that minors were brought to Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch and abused there. The Maxwell indictment charges that a minor was groomed at the property in 1996, starting with an unsolicited topless massage. A victim's sentencing statement describes being flown to the ranch at age 15 in 2004 and sexually molested "for many hours." These are separate incidents involving different victims, spanning at least eight years.

Yet Zorro Ranch — a 10,000-acre compound near Stanley, New Mexico — was never fully searched until March 2026. The FBI searched Epstein's Manhattan townhouse and Little Saint James in 2019. They did not search the ranch. The District of New Mexico offered to help prepare a search warrant that November. No application was submitted. The state's own investigation had already been shut down at SDNY's request the previous July. The property sat undisturbed for nearly seven years. Part 1 of this investigation documents how that happened.

This report — Part 2 — reconstructs what the EFTA corpus shows about the ranch itself: how it was built, staffed, funded, connected, and operated over 25 years. The corpus contains over 17,000 pages mentioning Zorro Ranch across legal filings, FBI materials, and Epstein's 2009–2019 Gmail archive. This is a comprehensive source-linked reconstruction of the property.

Where possible, claims rest on federal court filings, FBI interview transcripts, and official correspondence. Where the report draws on investigative journalism or books, that provenance is noted. Anonymous tips and unverified claims are identified as such and assessed skeptically.

What the documents show

A 63-page FBI interview with a reflexologist who worked at the ranch from 1999 to 2008 — never previously contacted by law enforcement — describes young women arriving by aircraft, an "attractiveness requirement" for all staff and service providers, a live-in teenage massage therapist who traveled between properties with Epstein, and pressure to sign a $250,000 NDA. The first known FBI contact with this nine-year witness occurred in 2021, twenty-two years after she began working there (EFTA00090036).

The email archive reveals an actively managed operational site. Named staff were screened by Epstein personally — including one whose husband was a deputy sheriff, which Epstein approved. His accountant scrutinized individual housekeeper salaries. A dedicated telecommunications system was built out over six years, from Sprint T1 lines to a licensed microwave relay to Sandia Crest, with equipment sourced through OneWeb founder Greg Wyler. The ranch operated through four corporate entities layered across three jurisdictions.

When outside contacts occurred, the alert system was fast. In 2011, a reporter called the reflexologist seeking information about Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein. By the next morning, ranch staff had pipelined the reporter's details to Epstein (EFTA01790757).

No evidence in the EFTA corpus supports claims linking the ranch to PROMIS software, Sandia National Laboratories (the weapons research facility), Los Alamos, or Mossad operations. "Sandia Crest" appears exclusively as a telecommunications relay point. The absence of evidence in this corpus is not proof of falsehood, but it defines an evidentiary boundary: across 2.91 million pages of Epstein's own email, financial records, FBI files, and legal filings, none of these connections appear.

This Part 2 focuses on the ranch itself — its operations, staff, infrastructure, and documented connection to abuse. Part 1 details how the 2019 investigation was halted. Together they provide a comprehensive source-linked reconstruction of Zorro Ranch from the EFTA corpus.

Table of Contents

1. 1993: Origins
2. 1999–2008: The Reflexologist's Window
3. 2007–2010: First Law Enforcement Contact
4. 2009–2014: The Email Archive Opens
5. 2010–2016: Building the Network
6. The Financial Architecture
7. The Evidence Trail
8. 2019: The Year Everything Stopped
9. Addendum: 2026 Investigations
10. What the Corpus Does Not Show

1. 1993: Origins

Acquisition

Jeffrey Epstein acquired the property through the Zorro Trust, an Ohio trust dated March 1, 1993 (EFTA00310887, page 3 — Special Warranty Deed). The Special Warranty Deed records the transfer from the King family (then-Governor Bruce King). Separately, Epstein employee Larry Morrison recalled in a deposition: "I thought that part of the property the Zorro was built on was owned by Bill Richardson. He sold it to Jeffrey" (EFTA01110271, page 43). Morrison's recollection has not been confirmed by deed records in the corpus; the hard documentary evidence shows the King family as grantor.

The New Mexico State Land Office lease file (EFTA01305252, 418 pages, DS10) documents the ranch's full land footprint:

• 84.86 acres — Section 36, T13N, R9E (Waterline Right-of-Way R-30137)
• 1,158.97 acres — Section 16 + parts of Section 2, T12N, R9E (Grazing Lease GR-2122)
• Land appraisals dated May 22, 2012 (ADP-303, ADP-304)
• BLM assignments for federal land parcels

In an April 2019 iMessage exchange with a real estate agent about European properties, Epstein described the ranch as "my ranch in new mexico sits on 10,000 acres" and "best house in america," adding: "I have turned down 75m for my ranch" (EFTA01612459, page 4).

Corporate Origin

The Zorro Trust was the first entity in what would become a layered corporate structure spanning Ohio, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and New Mexico (see Section 6). At this point, the trust held the land directly; the operating entities came later.

What This Section Does Not Show

The property was sold in 2023 to Don and Mary Catherine Huffines (Texas) under an LLC named San Rafael Ranch LLC. The Huffines' purchase, planned Christian retreat conversion, and 2026 construction halt are outside the EFTA corpus timeline (which ends circa 2021). "Huffines" returns zero results across the 2.7 million-page corpus.

2. 1999–2008: The Reflexologist's Window

Document Overview

EFTA00090036 is a 63-page transcript of an FBI interview conducted on May 4, 2021 under the SDNY Epstein investigation. The witness is a licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC) and certified reflexologist based near Santa Fe who worked at Zorro Ranch from approximately 1999 to 2008, making roughly 30 visits over nine years. The witness was primarily hired to perform foot reflexology on Ghislaine Maxwell, with Epstein receiving treatment only two or three times across the entire period.

This is a detailed FBI witness interview conducted in the SDNY investigation — among the strongest categories of source material in the corpus.

The witness had never been previously interviewed by any law enforcement agency about Zorro Ranch. When asked "Has anybody interviewed you about any of this before?", the witness responded: "No. That's why when you came to the door and I was happy to help you" (page 44). This means the first known FBI contact with this 9-year witness occurred in 2021 — 22 years after they began working at the ranch.

The Property Before Completion

During the early visits, the main house was still under construction. Epstein used a temporary structure — "almost like a log cabin or a mobile home" — that was "made to be very nice" (EFTA00090036, page 37). The property grew into a "fifty-thousand square-foot house" with staff cabins and guesthouses ("there were all sorts of different homes, like, little cabins or guesthouses, where different staff would live" — page 56), horses, and multiple outbuildings.

The witness entered through the back of the house, through a mudroom adjacent to the kitchen, and was not permitted in other areas: "I wasn't allowed in the rest of the house" (page 14). Sessions took place in a library off the kitchen or occasionally in Ghislaine's bedroom.

Key Testimony

The "Attractiveness Requirement." Ghislaine Maxwell asked the reflexologist to recommend a reflexologist for the New York property. The condition: "you have to be attractive." The witness stated:

"That was the one thing that disturbed me. You know, that you can't really be on the property unless you're attractive" (page 21).

When asked whose rule that was, the witness said: "I don't know" (page 21).

Young women arriving by aircraft. On one occasion while waiting in the kitchen to be called for a session, the witness observed approximately four young women arrive, escorted by staff:

"They were being driven from the airport or a helicopter and I was waiting in that room off the kitchen, where then they arrived as I'm waiting for Ghislaine, to work on Ghislaine, and there were several young women, that were girls, that would be there, and I was only — I don't know if [the colleague] told me or Ghislaine told me that they were working for the Limited or Victoria's Secret or they were just younger girls" (page 16).

Asked to estimate their age: "probably, like, eighteen or under. But I never saw someone who looked fourteen or fifteen" (page 18). Asked how they were dressed: "in any suggestive way, they were just dressed, like, in a normal [way]" (page 18). The witness did not see them again: "they literally came in the space, look up, see them, and then they're moved — so, they're walked on through" (page 19).

The traveling massage therapist. Epstein asked the reflexologist to teach a young woman — described as "his massage therapist" — how to perform reflexology. The woman was already living in the house and "flew with them" between properties: "she comes with me" (page 36). Age estimate: "maybe eighteen" (page 36). The witness described her as "a young, attractive girl that sat next to me" who "was very sweet" and "watching, fascinated" (page 40).

NDA pressure. Toward the end of the working relationship, staff attempted to get the witness to sign a non-disclosure agreement with a $250,000 penalty:

"They wanted me to sign a contract saying, like, a celebrity contract, like, 'if you see anything going on here you have to keep it private.' And I refused to sign it" (page 26).

The witness could not recall who specifically presented the NDA but believed it was one of the housekeepers. The penalty amount stuck in the witness's memory: "if I did violate that contract, I'd be sued for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars" (pages 26–27). The demand was framed as protecting the privacy of celebrities who might visit. Separately, ITV News has reported that construction workers at Zorro Ranch were asked to sign NDAs with a $100,000 penalty — some scratched out the figure and replaced it with $1 in protest (ITV News, March 24, 2026).

Ghislaine's management role. The witness described Maxwell as managing "his world in the sense of their home" — she "would be there to do trainings" with new staff on how to serve guests. Service had to be exact: "if they were at the dinner table, they had to be served a certain way from a certain — like, 'come to the left'" (page 26). The witness heard that guests could include "a celebrity or — I don't know, like, Trump or Clinton" (page 33), though the witness never personally saw any guests other than the young women described above.

Housekeeper identification. FBI agents showed the witness photographs, and the witness tentatively identified one of the housekeepers: "I think that was her. One of the housekeepers — at this point, I won't swear my life to —" (page 55). The witness recalled there may have been "two sets of housekeepers" over the years, and that one couple ran the ranch (pages 54–55).

How the Witness Was Found

The reflexologist was introduced to the FBI by a colleague — a local psychotherapist who also did massage work for Ghislaine Maxwell. FBI agents visited the colleague's Santa Fe home but did not find her; the reflexologist agreed to facilitate contact (EFTA00090036, pages 46–47, 60).

The Reporter and the Reflexologist (March 2011)

Ten years before the FBI finally interviewed this witness, Epstein's operation was already monitoring outside contacts. On March 12, 2011, Karen (ranch manager) emailed Epstein with the subject "FYI": the "reflextoligist - foot massages - at Zorro, was contacted by phone by a LA reporter yesterday who was looking for information on GM and yourself." The reflexologist "acknowledged nothing and asked how he got her number." Karen had Wendy forward the reporter's details to Epstein (EFTA01790757). The information pipeline ran from reflexologist → Zorro office → Karen → Epstein overnight. A reporter calling a service provider triggered an alert to the principal by the next morning.

What This Interview Does and Does Not Show

The witness explicitly stated: "I never witnessed any of the things that Jeffrey is being accused of" (page 16) and "he was never, ever inappropriate with me. He was very respectful to me" (page 29). The witness's access was limited to the kitchen, library, and occasional bedroom visits for reflexology — a small fraction of a 50,000-square-foot house. But the testimony documents the infrastructure around the abuse: young women arriving by aircraft at a remote compound, an "attractiveness requirement" enforced for all staff and service providers, a live-in teenage massage therapist who traveled between properties with Epstein, and a $250,000 NDA designed to ensure silence. Taken together, these facts are consistent with a system that brought young women to an isolated location, tightly controlled access, and discouraged disclosure. The witness saw the machinery, not what it produced.

3. 2007–2010: First Law Enforcement Contact

Gordon FBI Interview (February 2007)

Brice Gordon, the ranch manager, was interviewed by the FBI at 49 Zorro Ranch Road on February 8, 2007 (EFTA00269597). This was during the Palm Beach investigation — the first federal investigation into Epstein, which ultimately resulted in the 2008 non-prosecution agreement. Gordon also managed Little Saint James.

Richard Barnett, an operating engineer hired by Maxwell, had been traveling to Zorro Ranch quarterly from 1995 to 2014. His FD-302 (EFTA01245366) documents work across Little Saint James, Zorro, and the Palm Beach residence.

Sex Offender Registration (August 2010)

On August 19, 2010, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety sent Epstein a letter at 49 Zorro Ranch Road regarding the "SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION ACT" — his registration classification (EFTA00731095). Epstein was subsequently removed from the NM registry just two days after registering because his Florida conviction involved a victim over 16 — NM's age of consent. The NM legislature introduced HB 445 in 2026 to close this loophole.

What This Section Does Not Show

The 2007 FBI interview with Gordon occurred early in the federal investigation, before the non-prosecution agreement. What Gordon told the FBI is partially redacted. Whether additional law enforcement visits occurred between 2007 and 2019 is not documented in the corpus, though the reflexologist — who worked at the ranch through 2008 — was never contacted until 2021.

4. 2009–2014: The Email Archive Opens

Epstein's Gmail archive begins in May 2009, after his release from the Florida county jail. From this point forward, the corpus captures daily operations at the ranch in granular detail — staff hiring, payroll disputes, construction projects, and visitor coordination.

The Staff Network

The email corpus reveals a larger staff network than has been publicly reported. NBC News has identified Rachel Benavidez (massage therapist who refused an NDA), and Brice Gordon is named in the EFTA corpus as ranch manager (EFTA00269597), but the full roster documented in Epstein's email archive is considerably larger.

Payroll and Control

Richard Kahn emailed Epstein on September 19, 2012 with the subject line "Zorro Payroll," complaining: "I believe that this payroll has gotten very frothy. Seems strange that our new housekeeper Cynthia who has been with us 2 weeks makes more money than Louella. It is the health [insurance]..." (EFTA01989977). This email, in which Epstein's accountant scrutinizes individual housekeeper salaries at a ranch valued at $75 million, illustrates the granular financial control Kahn exercised over Epstein's properties.

Construction and Improvements

What these documents do not show: No references to underground construction, tunnels, or bunkers appear in any Zorro-related EFTA document. The corpus survey returned zero results for "underground," "tunnel," or "bunker" co-occurring with "Zorro."

The Visitors

The email corpus (DS10) documents coordination of visits to Zorro Ranch by several notable individuals. These emails confirm scheduling or travel arrangements; they do not document what occurred during visits.

Larry Visoski testified that he visited Zorro Ranch 5–6 times per year throughout his employment as Epstein's pilot (EFTA00068582).

What This Section Does Not Show

Staff names are drawn from Epstein's email archive (DS10), which begins in May 2009 and runs through 2019. The ranch was operational from the mid-1990s. Staff who worked there before 2009 — or who were not named in email — are not captured here. The FBI interview with the reflexologist (Section 2) provides the only pre-2009 staff perspective in the corpus. The email archive captures visitor scheduling, not activities. The presence of a visitor at Zorro Ranch does not imply awareness of or participation in criminal conduct. Many of these individuals visited multiple Epstein properties for legitimate professional or social purposes. Flight logs, which would provide a more complete visitor record, are only partially represented in the corpus.

5. 2010–2016: Building the Network

The ranch's telecommunications infrastructure has attracted significant attention after journalist Alisa Valdes identified two active FCC microwave licenses (WQXY316 and WQXY300) linking the ranch to Sandia Crest Tower (Alisa Writes, Substack). The EFTA corpus contains the underlying email chains showing who designed and built this system, and why.

Timeline of Communications Infrastructure

2010–2012: Sprint T1 Circuit. The ranch's initial dedicated internet was a Sprint T1 line at $894.46/month MRC. Brice Gordon compared this against a Time Warner T1 data service alternative (EFTA02006931).

May 2013: Greg Wyler / Motorola Radio. Jermaine Ruan, an Epstein employee who also managed technology on Little Saint James, wrote to Epstein: "With the help of Greg Wyler, Motorola 'point to point' radio solutions would be the best fit for Zorro Ranch" (EFTA01975307). Greg Wyler is the founder of O3b Networks and OneWeb, major satellite internet companies. Bloomberg reported in February 2026 that Epstein advised Wyler on OneWeb fundraising. This email shows Wyler reciprocated by helping source communications equipment for Epstein's ranch. Epstein responded: "and island?" — asking whether the same solution could work for Little Saint James.

2013–2014: Richard Boltz System Build. Richard Boltz of Advanced Communications and Electronics (Albuquerque) designed and installed the Sandia Crest relay system. The architecture ran from Sandia Crest over "Ethernet Packet radio" to Ranch Central to Main House (EFTA01966493, EFTA01963857, EFTA01965094, EFTA02020654).

2014: Satellite Frustration. Epstein complained directly:

"Satellite does not work for my primary purpose, it was supposed to be back up to an improved more reliable delivery and distribution system at a significant cost."

Speed tests showed 3–4.5 Mbps down. He demanded a return to T1 service (EFTA01932494, EFTA01932345).

September 2014: ZDC Telephone Directory. Karen (ranch manager) circulated an updated cell and land line directory for all Zorro Development Corp personnel, referencing attached files "TELEPHONE NUMBERS.ods" and "ZDC_TELEPHONE_LISIT_091114.pdf" [sic] (EFTA02098147, EFTA02097616). The phone directory itself was an email attachment and is not separately indexed in the corpus.

2015: St. Croix Fiber Discussion. Richard Kahn compared internet infrastructure quotes from Terrence Rabsatt and Richard Boltz, discussing "St Croix fiber" for the USVI properties alongside Zorro upgrades (EFTA01752832, EFTA01754863).

2016: CenturyLink Fiber / Microwave Link. Emails discuss running a fiber/microwave internet connection from Sandia Crest to the ranch. CenturyLink engineers confirmed fiber was "8 feet from a conduit running 70 feet to ZDC's tower location on Sandia Crest." Discussion of licensed vs. unlicensed microwave links, with a company called "Future Tech" to design and install (EFTA01780693, EFTA01739328, EFTA01802844). Brice Gordon and "Hector" coordinated the project. The FCC licenses WQXY316 and WQXY300 were granted July 12, 2016, matching this timeline.

Contact Information

Two different phone numbers appear for the ranch across the corpus:

• 505-938-2920 (tel), 505-938-2924 (fax) — Zorro Development Corp letterhead (EFTA02020961)
• 505-832-2625 (tel), 505-832-2676 (fax) — earlier reference (EFTA00595238)
• Email: [email protected]

What This Section Does Not Show

The emails document a wealthy person's persistent struggle to get reliable broadband to a remote New Mexico property — from T1 lines to satellite to microwave relay. The Sandia Crest relay point was chosen because it is one of the highest communications towers in the region, not because of any connection to Sandia National Laboratories (the nuclear weapons research facility, which is located 50 miles away in Albuquerque). No email in the EFTA corpus reviewed for this report references Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Laboratory, PROMIS software, or any intelligence operation in connection with the ranch's communications. The system was designed by a local Albuquerque communications contractor (Richard Boltz) for the stated purpose of providing internet service.

This does not foreclose the possibility that the infrastructure served additional purposes not documented in email, but the corpus evidence supports a mundane explanation: Epstein wanted fast internet in a location where none was easily available.

6. The Financial Architecture

The ranch operated through a layered corporate structure that evolved over two decades. The financial entities span multiple time periods and are presented together for clarity.

Corporate Entities

Zorro Trust — Ohio trust dated March 1, 1993. Original holding entity. Jeffrey Epstein, Trustee. JP Morgan account closed December 17, 2012, with a $516,811.47 transfer to Epstein's personal account (EFTA01588756).

Cypress, Inc. — Virgin Islands corporation, address 9100 Havensight, Port of Sale, Suite 15/16, St. Thomas, USVI 00802. Received the ranch via Special Warranty Deed dated December 19, 2011, with Darren Indyke handling the transfer through local counsel David G. Gordon at Sutin, Thayer & Browne APC in Albuquerque (EFTA00310887). The transfer package included assignment of State Land Office Grazing Lease No. GR-2122, assignment of State Right-of-Way Easement No. RW-30137, and pending BLM assignments.

Zorro Development Corporation (ZDC) — Operating entity with a Wells Fargo bank account (ABA 121000248, account 849825286). Received regular wire transfers from Epstein's JP Morgan account, typically $50,000–$100,000 (EFTA01590103). Used the address 49 Zorro Ranch Road, Stanley, NM 87056. Filed under the [email protected] email.

Zorro Management, LLC — Deutsche Bank entity, GCIS #550331. Subject to 2018 Periodic Review of High Risked Accounts alongside Southern Trust Company, Inc. and Epstein personal accounts, under the "SOUTHERN FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIP" at Deutsche Bank (EFTA01421805). The KYC review process flagged multiple compliance deficiencies requiring remediation (EFTA01424829, EFTA02204112).

HBRK Associates Inc. Zorro — Wire recipient via TD Bank, part of the $14.66 million aggregate flagged in FinCEN BSA filings (EFTA01656415).

JP Morgan KYC Note

A JP Morgan compliance note for the Zorro-related entity states: "Please tag the UBO [Ultimate Beneficial Owner] as a PEP [Politically Exposed Person] due to his close relationship with Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew" (EFTA01416621). This PEP designation — tagging Epstein because of his political connections — triggered enhanced due diligence requirements that JP Morgan compliance officers documented but that did not result in account closure until years later.

The Wyler Connection

The ranch's communications infrastructure (Section 5) was partly sourced through Greg Wyler, founder of O3b Networks and OneWeb. Bloomberg reported that Epstein served as an adviser behind the funding of OneWeb. The email evidence shows the relationship flowed both ways: Wyler helped source Motorola radio equipment for the ranch (EFTA01975307), and Epstein immediately asked "and island?" — seeking the same solution for Little Saint James. This is one of several instances in the corpus where Epstein's social network provided material benefits to his properties, and his properties served as venues for cultivating that network.

What This Section Does Not Show

The financial records in the corpus are fragmentary. The full scope of spending at Zorro Ranch — total construction costs, aggregate staff payroll over 25+ years, property tax history — is not available from EFTA documents alone. The $75 million valuation is Epstein's self-reported claim in a private conversation, not an independent appraisal.

7. The Evidence Trail

This section presents evidence connecting Zorro Ranch to the abuse of minors. The evidence comes from multiple sources across the corpus — some undated, some spanning years — and is grouped thematically. No victim names, pseudonym-to-name mappings, or individually identifying details are included. The goal is to document the system, not to identify individuals.

Sworn Testimony: The Sentencing Statement

At the SDNY sentencing hearing, a Jane Doe stated:

"In 2004, when I was 15 years old, I flew on Jeffrey Epstein's plane to Zorro Ranch, where I was sexually molested by him for many hours. What I remember most vividly was him explaining to me how beneficial the experience was for me and how much he was helping me to grow."

(EFTA00019994 / EFTA00076185 / EFTA00080160 — three copies of the same 86-page sentencing transcript appear across DS8 and DS9.)

The Maxwell Indictment: Minor Victim-2 in New Mexico

The Maxwell indictment (20 Cr. 330) contains the most detailed federal charging document describing abuse at Zorro Ranch. The indictment states that "in or about 1996," Maxwell "interacted with Minor Victim-2 on at least one occasion... at Epstein's residence in New Mexico when Minor Victim-2 was under the age of 18":

"Minor Victim-2 had flown into New Mexico from out of state at Epstein's invitation for the purpose of being groomed for and/or subjected to acts of sexual abuse. MAXWELL knew that Minor Victim-2 was under the age of 18 at the time. While in New Mexico, MAXWELL and Epstein took Minor Victim-2 to a movie and MAXWELL took Minor Victim-2 shopping. MAXWELL also discussed Minor Victim-2's school, classes, and family with Minor Victim-2."

(EFTA01659394, pages 8–9 — Maxwell indictment, filed June 29, 2020)

The superseding information (filed March 29, 2021) adds: "In New Mexico, MAXWELL began her efforts to groom Minor Victim-2 for abuse by Epstein by, among other things, providing an unsolicited massage to Minor Victim-2, during which Minor Victim-2 was topless. MAXWELL also encouraged Minor Victim-2 to massage Epstein" (EFTA01659462, page 9).

The overt acts section charges that "In or about 1996, when Minor Victim-2 was under the age of 18, MAXWELL provided Minor Victim-2 with an unsolicited massage in New Mexico, during which Minor Victim-2 was topless" (EFTA01659394, pages 11, 14). This conduct formed the basis of charged offenses in the federal case.

The Maxwell detention memo (20 Cr. 330) separately references abuse at "Epstein's properties in New York, Florida, and New Mexico" (EFTA01659412).

Photographic Evidence: The Safe

FBI agents searching Epstein's 71st Street Manhattan residence found, inside a safe in a third-floor closet, "several binders containing sleeves of compact discs, most of which are labeled with handwriting." The search warrant application describes: "One disc is marked 'Young [redacted].' Another disc is marked 'Nudes 00-24.' Another is marked 'Misc. Nudes.' Yet another is marked 'Girl Pics Nude.' Some discs contain the word 'Zorro' or 'LSJ.' For example, one disc is marked 'Dana Zorro Pics'" (EFTA01648851, page 7; EFTA01262900, page 8). "Zorro" refers to Zorro Ranch and "LSJ" to Little Saint James.

These photographs were seized from Manhattan — not from Zorro Ranch itself, which was never searched until 2026.

Seized Device Catalog

EFTA00004477 (DS3, 100 pages) is a catalog of contents from a seized device/computer. The first page lists a folder labeled "ZORRO" alongside folders labeled:

• "THAIS, MOSCOW GIRLS"
• "AFRICA"
• "MINUDES"
• "YOGA GIRLS"
• "BALI/THAILAND (ASIA)"
• "RUSSIA"
• "BOOK"

The geographic organization of these folder names — sorted by nationality or region — is consistent with the trafficking routes documented elsewhere in the corpus. The folder names do not, by themselves, establish what the folders contained.

FBI Observations

The FBI Albuquerque tactical intelligence report (EFTA00129048) states that a contractor "likely observed victim [redacted] in a room at the ranch" and that employees were "sworn to secrecy" about property details.

Financial Records: The Ranch Was Operational

A 2004 expenditure report for "Jeffrey E. Epstein & Related Entities" includes a dedicated "Zorro" column showing $63,803 in general (non-house) expenditures for that year, including $10,603 for "Massage & Exercise" and $2,474 for "Entertainment & Meals" (EFTA01304421, page 2). The sentencing statement documents a 15-year-old victim being sexually abused at the ranch in 2004. The expenditure report shows the ranch was not only operational that year but was actively spending in the category of services through which the documented abuse occurred.

What This Section Does Not Show

The corpus does not contain a complete account of abuse at Zorro Ranch. The sentencing statement and Maxwell indictment establish that abuse occurred there in at least two separate documented incidents spanning at least eight years: one victim was groomed at the ranch in 1996 starting with an unsolicited topless massage; a different victim flew in at age 15 in 2004 and was "sexually molested for many hours." These are the cases that entered the federal record. The reflexologist interview (Section 2) describes the infrastructure of access but no witnessed abuse. The photographic evidence was found in Manhattan, not at the ranch. The truth commission and AG Torrez's investigation may produce additional testimony from victims and witnesses who never entered the federal process.

8. 2019: The Year Everything Stopped

July 2019: The Investigation Halt

This section summarizes the investigation halt documented in detail in How SDNY Halted the Zorro Ranch Investigation. Readers should consult that report for the full email chain analysis and timeline.

In July 2019, SDNY instructed the New Mexico Attorney General's office (AG Hector Balderas) to cease its independent sex trafficking investigation into Zorro Ranch. An SDNY AUSA wrote on September 8, 2019:

"In essence, they agreed to cease any investigation into sex trafficking and share whatever they had gathered to date regarding sex trafficking activity with our office."

(EFTA00019183, page 8.) Page 10 references "Alison and Maurene" — likely AUSAs Alison Moe and Maurene Comey, who are publicly known to have handled the Epstein case at SDNY. Comey was fired by the Trump DOJ in July 2025.

Former AG Balderas has stated that New Mexico provided SDNY with police reports, recorded witness interviews, correspondence, and documents related to Epstein's land leases — and received nothing in return. He described the arrangement as "a one-way relationship" (ABQ Journal, March 1, 2026).

August 10, 2019: Epstein's Death

Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. The federal case effectively died with him. The NM investigation was already halted. No search warrant for Zorro Ranch had been submitted or sought.

September 2019: Lease Cancellation

NM State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard initiated cancellation of Cypress Inc.'s grazing leases on 1,243 acres of adjacent state trust land after Cypress failed to respond to multiple inspection access requests following Epstein's death. The formal cancellation letter cited obstruction of access, misrepresentation, and non-agricultural use. The leases effectively functioned as a privacy buffer around the ranch (NM State Land Office, Sept 2019; NM Political Report).

November 2019: The Extortion Email and the Search Warrant That Wasn't

The District of New Mexico explicitly offered to assist SDNY with a search warrant application for Zorro Ranch (EFTA00019183, page 7). No application was submitted. No search occurred until March 10, 2026 — nearly seven years later.

Separately, EFTA00067066 (DS9, 2 pages) is an email forwarded to the FBI on November 25, 2019 by Albuquerque radio host Eddy Aragon. The original was sent from an encrypted ProtonMail account on November 21, 2019, by someone claiming to be "a former staff at the Zorro." It alleged that "two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madam G" who "died by strangulation during rough, fetish sex."

This email is an anonymous, unverified claim that also contains hallmarks of an extortion attempt. It demanded 1 bitcoin for a USB drive allegedly containing video footage, listed specific video descriptions with timestamps, and provided a bitcoin wallet address. The sender specified a payment deadline. Whether the FBI investigated the underlying claims — setting aside the extortion demand — is not documented in the corpus.

What This Section Does Not Show

The corpus does not contain internal SDNY memoranda explaining why no search warrant was sought for Zorro Ranch. The halt may have been a routine case coordination decision or may have reflected higher-level policy. The corpus contains no evidence that AG William Barr personally directed the halt. See the companion report for full analysis.

9. Addendum: 2026 Investigations (Status as of March 28, 2026)

After seven years of inaction, three concurrent investigations are now underway in New Mexico. This section lies outside the EFTA corpus timeline and relies entirely on external reporting (news coverage, official statements). It is included as a status snapshot, not as a corpus-grounded finding.

AG Torrez Criminal Investigation

On February 19, 2026, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez formally reopened the criminal investigation into Zorro Ranch. The NMDOJ statement read: "Although the State of New Mexico's prior investigation was closed in 2019 at the request of the U.S Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination" (NMDOJ statement; Source NM; ABQ Journal op-ed by Torrez).

On March 9–10, 2026, NMDOJ conducted the first known full property search of Zorro Ranch, assisted by New Mexico State Police and Sandoval County K-9 teams. (FBI agents interviewed ranch manager Brice Gordon on-site in 2007, but no property search was conducted at that time.) Cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar were deployed. As of March 24, 2026, no human remains have been found (Reuters, March 10; ITV News, March 24; Time; CNN). The current owners (Don and Mary Catherine Huffines) cooperated with the search (Reuters).

Truth Commission

On February 16, 2026, the New Mexico House voted unanimously to create a bipartisan truth commission with subpoena power and a budget reported between $2 million and $2.5 million (Source NM; NBC News).

Members:
- Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) — Chair
- Rep. Marianna Anaya (D-Albuquerque) — abuse survivor advocate
- Rep. Andrea Reeb (R-Clovis) — former child crimes prosecutor
- Rep. William "Bill" Hall (R-Aztec) — retired FBI agent

Interim findings are due July 2026; final report by end of 2026. The commission held its first meeting on February 17 (Source NM).

State Land Commissioner

On February 10, 2026, Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard wrote to state and federal law enforcement urging investigation of the burial allegations, noting that state trust lands are adjacent to the ranch property (Source NM; ABQ Journal).

Second Tipster (2020)

Separately from the 2019 ProtonMail email (Section 8), a different individual claimed to have trespassed onto Zorro Ranch in 2020 and found "grave-like plots" that appeared to have been excavated. Photos were submitted to NM state lawmakers and published by Al Jazeera on March 17, 2026 (Al Jazeera). This is an unverified anonymous claim from a self-described trespasser. The March 2026 search using cadaver dogs and GPR has not confirmed human remains as of this writing.

Political Fallout

• Bill Richardson's name removed from University of New Mexico Hospital building amid Epstein file revelations (KOB-TV)
• Gary King (Bruce King's son, NM AG 2006–2014) accepted $35,600 in campaign donations from Epstein during his 2014 gubernatorial bid — the largest outside donation — which he returned after press reporting (US News/Reuters, March 21, 2026)
• March 9 protest: Hundreds caravanned from Albuquerque to Zorro Ranch over International Women's Day weekend demanding justice for survivors (KUNM)

10. What the Corpus Does Not Show

This section addresses specific claims circulating in public discourse that are not supported by evidence in the 2.91 million-page EFTA corpus reviewed for this report. The absence of evidence in this corpus is not proof of falsehood — it defines an evidentiary boundary.

PROMIS Software / Intelligence Operations

Alisa Valdes has published a detailed article arguing that Robert Maxwell sold a Mossad-modified version of PROMIS surveillance software to Sandia National Laboratories in 1985, and that Ghislaine Maxwell subsequently led Epstein to purchase a ranch "located halfway between" Sandia and Los Alamos (Alisa Writes, Substack). The article cites FBI counterintelligence files obtained through FOIA and the book Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy (Gordon Thomas & Martin Dillon, 2002).

In the 2.91 million-page EFTA corpus reviewed for this report, there are zero references to PROMIS, Sandia National Laboratories (as a weapons research facility), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mossad, or any intelligence operation in connection with Zorro Ranch. The term "Sandia" appears in ranch-related documents exclusively in the context of "Sandia Crest" — a telecommunications relay point used by CenturyLink and the ranch's microwave system (see Section 5). Sandia Crest is a geographic feature (the highest point of the Sandia Mountains at 10,679 feet) that hosts numerous commercial communications towers; it is not part of Sandia National Laboratories.

This does not disprove Valdes' thesis, which relies on sources outside the EFTA production. But the corpus — which contains Epstein's personal email from 2009–2019, financial records, FBI investigative files, and legal filings — provides no corroboration. Valdes' claims rest partly on published books and FOIA documents — credible secondary sources — and partly on inferential geographic reasoning that the corpus does not corroborate.

Underground Structures

Zero results for "tunnel," "bunker," or "underground" co-occurring with "Zorro" in the EFTA corpus reviewed for this report. Construction records (Section 4) document a basement ("C-level"), which is a conventional architectural feature.

The $85 Million Lottery

Valdes has also reported that a "Zorro Trust" claimed an $85 million Powerball prize in Oklahoma in July 2008, identifying Brice Gordon as the ticket purchaser. Contemporary local reporting attributed the win to a different individual who set up a trust of the same name. The coincidence of the name "Zorro Trust" does not, by itself, establish a connection to Epstein. This claim is not present in the 2.91 million-page EFTA corpus reviewed for this report, and the underlying connection to Epstein is disputed.

Complete Visitor List

The corpus captures only visitors whose names appear in Epstein's email archive (DS10, 2009–2019) or in legal filings. Visitors who arrived without email coordination, who visited before 2009, or whose names were redacted are not represented. The truth commission's subpoena power may surface a more complete record.

Evidence Inventory

Primary Documents

Email Corpus (DS10) — Communications Infrastructure

Email Corpus (DS10) — Staff and Operations

Email Corpus (DS10) — Financial

Legal and FBI Materials

This report was generated by AI (Claude, Anthropic) and source-checked against cited documents. All claims cite specific EFTA numbers that readers can verify independently at epstein-data.com. No affiliation with Anthropic.