Zorro Ranch: The Property
Jeffrey Epstein purchased Zorro Ranch, a large New Mexico property in Stanley (Santa Fe County), in approximately 1993. The ranch encompassed thousands of acres of Southwestern landscape and included a main house, guest facilities, staff quarters, an airstrip, and various outbuildings. It was the largest property Epstein owned by land area.
The airstrip allowed direct private aviation access, making the property accessible to visitors without requiring travel through public airports. Albuquerque’s Sunport and Santa Fe Municipal Airport were used for connecting flights. The remote and self-contained nature of the ranch made it an ideal location for activities that its owner wished to conduct with privacy.
Documented Visitors
Flight logs, civil litigation depositions, and media investigations have documented or reported the following categories of visitors:
Scientific and Academic Visitors: Consistent with Epstein’s efforts to cultivate scientists and academics, Zorro Ranch hosted a number of scientific figures. Epstein arranged conferences and meetings at the property, using its remote and impressive setting as a context for intellectual gatherings that reinforced his patron-of-science persona.
Financial and Social Elite: Members of Epstein’s broader financial and social network visited the ranch, some in the context of what were described as weekend retreats or social gatherings.
Victims and Young Women: Victim testimony in civil proceedings documented the presence at Zorro Ranch of young women who were subjected to the same pattern of abuse that characterized Epstein’s other properties. The remote setting amplified the isolation tactics central to the trafficking operation.
What Occurred at the Ranch
Victim accounts describe Zorro Ranch as operating similarly to Little Saint James and the Palm Beach mansion: young women and girls were brought to the property, subjected to the massage-for-sex pretext, groomed, and abused. The ranch’s remoteness gave Epstein even greater effective control over victims’ ability to leave or seek help.
New Mexico state investigators found evidence that Epstein had employed local individuals in staff and support roles and that some of these individuals may have witnessed activities relevant to the trafficking operation.
New Mexico State Investigation
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas opened a state investigation into Epstein’s New Mexico activities in 2019. The investigation examined whether New Mexico state law crimes had been committed at Zorro Ranch and whether violations of New Mexico labor and trafficking statutes had occurred.
The state investigation subpoenaed records from the estate and sought testimony from individuals who had worked at or visited the ranch. The investigation found evidence of trafficking-related activity and of labor exploitation involving some staff.
New Mexico legislators also introduced legislation related to the case, including bills extending statutes of limitations for sex crimes and trafficking.
The Ranch State in Post-Death Estate Administration
Zorro Ranch was sold as part of the estate administration. The property sold for approximately $27.5 million. The New Mexico sale was accompanied by questions about whether any structures at the property that had evidentiary significance should be preserved, though ultimately the standard estate sale process proceeded without special preservation requirements.
Visitor List Limitations
The documented visitor list for Zorro Ranch in the public record is less extensive than that for Little Saint James, partly because flight logs for ranch-bound flights were less comprehensively preserved and partly because the ranch was less frequently referenced in deposition testimony than the island. Civil discovery produced some visitor information, but a complete accounting remains unavailable publicly.