New Mexico filed suit against the US Department of Justice on Wednesday seeking complete unredacted records related to Jeffrey Epstein. The complaint claims the federal agency has blocked the state's inquiry by withholding key materials on the late financier.

The action heightens an already tense conflict over federal Epstein materials that has continued under the current administration.

After restarting its probe in February the Democratic-led state asked for full files to help locate visitors and employees at Zorro Ranch near Stanley who may have committed offenses or observed them.

The Justice Department responded that it released some documents yet could not share additional items because of privacy rules.

The lawsuit states that federal delays extend the pain of survivors and asks the US District Court for the District of Columbia to order Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to turn over the requested materials.

New Mexico argues withheld records hinder Epstein probe

The Justice Department countered that statutes and court orders bar release of information that could identify victims.

A spokesperson added that New Mexico offered no valid reason for broad disclosure of the files.

Five months into the inquiry Attorney General Raul Torrez has not announced findings despite devoting considerable resources to the effort.

Torrez told reporters the state needs the federal documents before any charges can be filed.

State panel reports dozens of possible Epstein victims

Lawmakers also issued an interim report from their independent Truth Commission review of Epstein activities.

The report found evidence that Epstein abused at least five women and girls at Zorro Ranch from 1996 to 2012 and identified at least thirty additional people who may have suffered abuse in New Mexico. Some of those individuals could be witnesses others facilitators and some both.

More than one hundred thousand records have arrived from the first twenty subpoenas sent to law enforcement agencies and a Santa Fe scientific institute according to commission Chair Andrea Romero.

Seven subpoenas went unanswered including requests to the Federal Aviation Administration for flight logs and to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York for evidence previously shared by New Mexico in 2019.

State authorities maintain the Justice Department failed to honor a 2019 agreement under which New Mexico paused its investigation and transferred evidence in exchange for ongoing information sharing. Torrez noted ongoing challenges such as the passage of time loss of evidence after the ranch sale in 2023 and possible jurisdictional limits on prosecutions.