# Balderas stands his ground, the shadow of a federal blockade hangs over the Epstein investigation > Former New Mexico attorney general Hector Balderas continues to insist that federal officials asked him to suspend his state investigation into the - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Note - Published: 2026-07-06 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/balderas-persiste-l-ombre-d-un-blocage-federal-plane-sur-l-enquete-epstein ## Introduction: an accusation that refuses to fade ### A former **attorney general** who won't let go Former **New Mexico** attorney general **Hector Balderas** continues to insist that federal officials asked him to suspend his **state** investigation into the **Zorro Ranch** back when he was building a **case** in **2019**. This allegation, repeated publicly on several occasions in early July 2026, still has no clear official response from the **U.S. Department of Justice**. According to **Balderas**, his office was six months into its investigation, had just interviewed a first **survivor**, when a call from the **Southern District of New York** asked him to pause his work, citing the risk of interference with a parallel federal proceeding. ### A promise of **coordination** never kept Balderas says he complied, convinced the feds held the "bigger hammer" at the time, in exchange for a promise of coordination and information-sharing that, he says, was never honored by the **federal** **authorities** involved in the case. *I find it outrageous that a state prosecutor acting in good faith agreed to step back on the promise of cooperation that, six years later, looks mostly like a pretext for quietly burying an inconvenient investigation.* ## The **ranch** never searched, an anomaly that raises questions ### Seven years without a single federal **search** Despite suspicions documented for years, no federal agency, neither the **FBI** nor the **DOJ**, had searched the **7,600-acre property** before **March 2026**, when New Mexico's Department of Justice finally carried out the very first ground **search** in the history of this case. A federal email dated **December 2019**, made public as part of the release of the Epstein files, explicitly confirmed that federal agents had "not searched the New Mexico property," an admission that now fuels suspicions of deliberate **negligence**. ### **David Bowdich** and the FBI's uncomfortable **silence** According to emails obtained by **Scripps News**, former FBI deputy director **David Bowdich** himself acknowledged, as early as **August 2019**, the growing media attention around the failure to search the **Zorro Ranch**, writing he was "sure there was a good reason" for this **inaction**, without ever specifying what it was. *That line from Bowdich, as **evasive** as it is telling, sums up on its own the discomfort of an institution that knew perfectly well its inaction was a problem, without ever wanting to own it publicly.* ## The **Truth Commission**, a last hope for **transparency** ### An unprecedented investigative mechanism in New Mexico Faced with this persistent silence, the New Mexico House of Representatives unanimously voted, **62 to 0**, to create a **Truth Commission** with subpoena power and a **$2 million** budget, tasked with investigating alleged criminal activity at the Zorro Ranch. This **commission** has already issued at least **14 subpoenas** targeting the FBI, the **DOJ**, **Deutsche Bank**, **JPMorgan Chase**, as well as several federal prosecutors' offices across multiple states and the U.S. Virgin Islands district, according to **Reuters** and **The Hill**. ### **Andrea Romero**, a chair determined to break through the wall of silence The commission's chair, representative **Andrea Romero**, confirmed that nine additional subpoenas had been sent to federal prosecutors' offices in several districts, as well as to state agencies, as part of an investigation due to produce an **interim report** by **July 31, 2026**. *I welcome this unprecedented legislative initiative, but I stay clear-eyed: a state commission, however determined, has neither arrest power nor prosecutorial power, which fundamentally limits its ability to extract real federal answers.* ## Balderas's **testimony**, a central piece of the puzzle ### "The first signs of a **cover-up**" In testimony given to the **Scripps News Group**, Balderas described this sequence of events as possibly the "first signs of a cover-up," saying his office could have helped obtain a **search warrant** if the feds had simply reached back out to him, something he says never happened. Balderas also revealed he followed up with federal authorities by letter in **September 2019**, without ever receiving a response, then again after **Ghislaine Maxwell's arrest in 2020**, once more offering his resources, again without success. ### A case closure with no notice to the state According to emails cited by several American outlets, the **Southern District of New York** closed its Epstein case barely a week after internal exchanges about the failure to search the ranch, without ever directly informing New Mexico's attorney general's office. *I consider this total absence of notice, on a case of such gravity, to go far beyond simple bureaucratic clumsiness, and it deserves a public explanation the DOJ still refuses to provide.* ## The **unredacted files**, a persistent blind spot ### Torrez still denied complete **documents** New Mexico's current attorney general, **Raúl Torrez**, who reopened the criminal investigation in **February 2026** after the release of new federal files, still has not received the complete unredacted Justice Department documents concerning the Zorro Ranch. This persistent withholding of documents, months after the case officially reopened, fuels criticism over the lack of real **cooperation** from federal authorities toward state investigators, despite repeated requests from Torrez's office. ### Balderas doubts the full truth will ever be public Balderas himself said he is convinced the true ins and outs of the Zorro Ranch investigation will probably never be fully made public, a weighty **statement** coming from a former senior official who had direct access to the case in its early days. *I find this caution from Balderas, coming from a man who had a front-row seat to the case, more worrying than any accusation made by an outside commentator.* ## The weight of **financial institutions** in the case ### Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase in the subpoenas' crosshairs Among the institutions targeted by the Truth Commission's **subpoenas** are two banking giants, **Deutsche Bank** and **JPMorgan Chase**, both already singled out in earlier **lawsuits** for maintaining business relationships with **Jeffrey Epstein** long after internal warning signs had been raised. According to **Time**, part of the investigative commission's **funding** even comes from a **settlement** reached between New Mexico's attorney general and financial institutions sued for failing to detect the alleged **trafficking** of minors at the Zorro Ranch, a detail that shows just how much bank money is now funding the search for truth about the banks' own past failures. ### The **Santa Fe Institute**, an unexpected target of the investigation Even more surprising, the **Santa Fe Institute**, a respected scientific organization that received donations from Epstein in the past, is also among the entities subpoenaed, illustrating the extent of the financial and social **network** Epstein had built far beyond his direct criminal circles. *I find it significant that institutions as respected as a scientific research center now find themselves forced to account for their past ties to Epstein, proof that his financial influence extended well beyond the circles we usually imagine.* ## The ranch's new owner and the complexity of the investigation ### **Don Huffines**, a buyer with political ambitions The Zorro Ranch has since changed hands: it now belongs to **Don Huffines**, a **Dallas** real estate developer and former Texas state senator, now running for Texas comptroller, which further complicates investigators' access to the original property. This change of ownership, which took place in **2023**, raises additional questions about whether physical evidence on the site could have been preserved, years after the alleged events and well before the first official search carried out in **March 2026**. ### Allegations of clandestine graves never confirmed An anonymous informant, claiming to have worked at the ranch, suggested Epstein may have concealed the deaths of two young **victims** by ordering their burial in the surrounding hills, a serious allegation that no official investigation has to date definitively confirmed or ruled out. *I refuse to present this allegation of clandestine graves as an established fact: it remains an unconfirmed lead, and this is exactly the kind of unverified rumor I refuse to amplify without solid proof.* ## What this case reveals about federal-state coordination ### A one-way model of cooperation Balderas's experience illustrates a structural imbalance between federal and state authorities in high-profile cases: the state is asked to defer to federal priority in the name of coordination, without always getting reciprocal access to the information gathered by those same federal authorities. This imbalance raises a broader institutional question: how many other sensitive state investigations have been shelved in the name of federal coordination that, in practice, never actually followed through? ### A lesson for future state investigations The Zorro Ranch precedent could now push other state attorneys general to think twice before agreeing to suspend their own investigations at a simple federal request, especially in cases involving allegations as serious as those tied to the trafficking of minors. *I think this institutional lesson reaches far beyond the Epstein case alone: it should push every state prosecutor to demand written guarantees before yielding ground to a federal **jurisdiction** that promises coordination it does not always honor.* ## Conclusion: transparency still to be won ### A case that cannot stay sealed forever Seven years after **Epstein's** death in custody, Balderas's allegation of possible federal **interference** shows just how far the promise of total transparency on this case remains, to this day, largely unfulfilled. The interim report expected from the **Truth Commission** by **July 31, 2026** will be a first test of authorities' real willingness to shed full light on this case. Without full access to the DOJ's unredacted files, neither New Mexico's commission nor the public will be able to establish with certainty whether this was a simple inter-agency coordination failure or a more deliberate decision to limit the scope of prosecutions tied to the Zorro Ranch. ### What this **case** says about the cost of transparency This case is a reminder that transparency on the Epstein files is not simply granted: it is wrenched out, subpoena after subpoena, from federal institutions that clearly prefer silence to public explanation. *I close this case with the same conviction I opened it with: as long as the DOJ refuses to hand over its unredacted files, Balderas's question will remain open, and doubt will keep hanging over what federal authorities really knew about the Zorro Ranch.* **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - ABC 10 News — former New Mexico attorney general says he was sidelined by feds from probe into Epstein's ranch, June 18, 2026 - Scripps News — Epstein's Zorro Ranch, former New Mexico prosecutor says he was ordered to stand down, June 8, 2026 ### Secondary sources - Reuters — New Mexico's Epstein probe subpoenas federal prosecutors' offices, June 18, 2026 - The Guardian — from New York to New Mexico, new Epstein files shed light on his ranch, February 8, 2026 - The New York Times — Epstein's New Mexico ranch finally scrutinized, maybe too late, March 1, 2026 - Time — new investigation launched into Epstein's 7,600-acre ranch, February 17, 2026 - The Hill — New Mexico lawmakers issue first subpoenas in Epstein investigation, June 2, 2026 --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/balderas-persiste-l-ombre-d-un-blocage-federal-plane-sur-l-enquete-epstein