The FBI had a 60-count federal indictment drafted against Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 – and let him walk anyway.
Now a state commission handed the agency a subpoena.
What those subpoenas are about to drag into the open is what the Swamp wanted to stay buried.
How the Epstein Files Triggered New Mexico's Truth Commission
New Mexico's state Legislature created the Survivors' Truth Commission earlier this year after Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act and millions of sealed DOJ pages hit the public record.
The commission is bipartisan, carries a $2 million budget drawn from bank settlement funds, and has full subpoena power.
Its second public hearing – and it used that power for the first time.
14 subpoenas went out to Epstein's estate, the FBI, the DOJ, both U.S. Attorney's Offices that handled his cases, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, the New Mexico governor's office, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, the State Land Commission, and the Santa Fe Institute.
Every one of those institutions had contact with Epstein while girls were being abused at Zorro Ranch outside of Sante Fe, New Mexico.
None of them stopped it.
The Santa Fe Institute Took $680,000 From Epstein and Still Won't Open Its Books
The FBI isn't the only one with explaining to do.
Financial records in the DOJ's released files show Epstein donated at least $680,000 to the Santa Fe Institute – a prestigious scientific research center in New Mexico's capital.
The institute publicly acknowledges only $275,000.
That's a $405,000 gap the institute's president has declined to explain – calling an internal audit he won't release "a matter of institutional privacy."
The commission wants to know what research Epstein funded, which staff members were in contact with him, and what benefits he received for his money.
Epstein bought Zorro Ranch in 1993 – 7,500 acres in southern Santa Fe County – to be near Santa Fe Institute scientists.
He funded the research of Nobel laureate physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who thanked Epstein by name in the preface of his 1994 book.
After Epstein's initial conviction, the institute said it cut ties.
Some affiliates kept meeting with him anyway.
Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and a Democrat AG All Took Epstein's Money
Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase are both named in the subpoenas.
The New Mexico governor's office got a subpoena too.
So did the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office – the local law enforcement agency that covered Epstein's backyard for two decades.
The New Mexico State Land Commission is named because Epstein's ranch dealings ran through state land records for years.
Epstein purchased the original Zorro Ranch acreage from the family of former Democrat Gov. Bruce King – and maintained relationships with the King political network for years afterward.
Bruce King's son Gary King, who served as New Mexico's attorney general, took campaign contributions from Epstein, accepted flights on an Epstein-connected private plane, and met with Epstein in Santa Fe in 2010 – after Epstein was already a registered sex offender.
For over 20 years, Epstein had politicians in his pocket, scientists on his payroll, banks moving his money, and federal agents sitting on their hands.
The Truth Commission's $2 million budget exists to find out exactly how that happened.
Why the Epstein Cover-Up Investigation Is Being Left to the States
State Attorney General Raul Torrez reopened New Mexico's criminal investigation and urged more survivors to come forward.
The commission hired a law firm to pursue civil actions against institutions that failed to act.
Investigators searched Zorro Ranch in January and say the unsealed FBI files warrant further examination.
What they haven't gotten is a federal partner.
Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in late 2025 – the move that cracked open the sealed files and made this entire investigation possible.
Those released documents gave New Mexico the evidence to launch the Truth Commission in the first place.
But the federal Justice Department has not announced its own standalone investigation into Epstein's New Mexico operations.
The establishment that protected Epstein for 20 years is still deciding whether to investigate itself.
New Mexico isn't waiting.
Rachel Benavidez, who says Epstein abused her at Zorro Ranch, told the commission she has been speaking out since 2019 and still has no answers.
"I am more than a salacious story," she said.
Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan processed his money for years.
The Santa Fe Institute took his donations and won't show their books.
Now they all have to answer to a state subpoena – and the clock is running.
Sources:
- Andrea Romero, "New Mexico's Epstein 'Truth Commission' to Issue 14 Subpoenas," Source New Mexico, June 1, 2026.
- Joshua Bowling, "New Mexico's Zorro Ranch Truth Commission Announces 14 Subpoenas," Santa Fe New Mexican, June 2, 2026.
- "Epstein Update: List of 14 Subpoenas to Be Issued in New Mexico," Newsweek, June 2, 2026.
- "Timeline of Jeffrey Epstein–Ghislaine Maxwell Law Enforcement Failures," Just Security, February 23, 2026.
- "Jeffrey Epstein Files Shed Light on Ties to Santa Fe Institute Scientists," Santa Fe New Mexican, February 12, 2026.
- "New Mexico Prosecutors Launch Search of Jeffrey Epstein's Secluded Former Zorro Ranch," Associated Press, January 31, 2026.
