Albuquerque, Oct 21 (AP) New Mexico’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Jeffrey Epstein’s attorney and accountant, accusing them of concealing his sex trafficking operation at a sprawling Santa Fe-area ranch where the disgraced financier entertained guests.
The lawsuit seeks to stop attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn from accepting any payments from Epstein’s estate, estimated at more than USD 100 million.
Indyke worked as Epstein’s attorney for roughly two decades. Both he and Kahn have testified in Congress that they did not know about Epstein’s abuse, though New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has a different view.
“None of this could be done by just one man,” Torrez said. “This was something that was facilitated, that was made possible by handlers, by lawyers, by accountants, by others who have yet to face real consequences.”
He said Indyke and Kahn “stand to benefit substantially” from Epstein’s estate unless a court intervenes.
“Those resources rightfully belong in the hands of survivors,” Torrez said, referring to victims of Epstein’s abuse.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from attorneys for Indyke and Kahn were not immediately returned Wednesday. The US Justice Department did not immediately return an email seeking comment on any federal investigation of the pair in New Mexico.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 in a federal jail in New York City, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His former girlfriend and close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges in New York. Witness testimony at Maxwell’s trial alleged she and Epstein had sexually abused women at the New Mexico ranch.
Epstein purchased the Zorro Ranch in Stanley, a sparsely populated ranching community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993. He built a 26,700-square-foot mansion with a sprawling courtyard, a living room roughly the size of the average American home, and a private airstrip and helipad.
Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, though the state attorney general’s office in 2019 confirmed that it was investigating and planned to forward its findings to federal authorities in New York. Hector Balderas, who was attorney general at the time, said the state’s outdated laws failed to protect children from abuse.
Torrez reopened the state’s investigation this year. In August, he sued the Justice Department, accusing it of blocking the state from investigating alleged sex crimes at the ranch. The government said it was not releasing some information to the state to avoid disclosing victim-identifying information.
Also in August, a commission established by state lawmakers to investigate whether local authorities looked the other way, released a 119-page report that found that authorities repeatedly deferred to investigations in New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and the Virgin Islands, while leaving Epstein’s offenses in New Mexico unexamined and unpunished.
The ranch was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, a Republican who is the Texas state comptroller. The money was set aside for creditors.
Probate proceedings related to Epstein’s will and assets are being handled in the US Virgin Islands.
(PTI News)
