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 Hector Balderas, who was attorney general at the time, said the state's outdated laws failed to protect children from abuse.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 Department of Justice, accusing it of blocking the state from investigating alleged sex crimes at the ranch. The lawsuit said state prosecutors faced  sustained resistance  to the kind of information-sharing common between state and federal investigators. The Justice Department said it was not releasing some information the state requested to avoid disclosing victim-identifying information.

Also in August, a commission established by state lawmakers to investigate the allegations and 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 - with proceeds going toward creditors - to the family of Don Huffines, a Republican recently appointed Texas' state comptroller.