This past week, a MAGA businessman and Texas politician was outed to have a connection with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County. The revelation has particularly emerged as yet another triggering point of discussion amid the back-and-forth over the extensive release of US Justice Department’s files related to the late financier and convicted sex offender.
Local news outlet Santa Fe New Mexican exposed Don Huffines’ family as the new mystery owner of the ranch in New Mexico, citing the receipt of tax protest records obtained through a public records request.
Trump devotee Don Huffines, who is a former GOP state senator from Dallas, is currently running a high-profile campaign for Texas comptroller. If he wins, he will be heading a statewide office overseeing the US state’s financial matters.
MAGA candidate Don Huffines linked to Epstein ranch?
As per the public records stated therein, the report linked the sprawling 26,700-square-foot hilltop mansion to San Rafael Ranch LLC, which is listed to have bought the property for an undisclosed amount in 2023. The limited liability company is said to have been created just a month before the purchase, as per the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Until earlier this month, Colin Huffines, the son of Don Huffines, was listed as the manager of the LLC, according to the New Mexican report. Meanwhile, tax protest records cited in the report indicated that Don Huffines’ wife was listed as an owner of the ranch that once belonged to Epstein.
The stated records further indicated that the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch and its current address is 49 Rancho San Rafael Road (changed from 49 Zorro Ranch Road in 2024).
For tax purposes, the ranch was valued at $21.1 million for tax year 2023. However, the LLC argued that the property’s “notoriety” warranted a lower valuation and, in turn, lower taxes, as per The New Mexican report. Consequently, the Santa Fe County assessor valued it at $13.4 million for tax year 2023.
MAGA businessman’s spox on Epstein ranch ownership claims
Multiple US reports indicated that Huffines’ current campaign spokesperson Allen Blakemore has issued a statement addressing the family’s purchase of the notoriously known Epstein Zorro Ranch.
“Four years after Mr. Epstein’s death, the Huffines family purchased property in New Mexico listed at public auction whose proceeds benefited his victims,” the spokesperson said. “Prior to the auction listing, they had never visited the property.”
Why is Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico so ill-famed?
Epstein bought the sprawling New Mexico estate, which even featured an air strip, for an estimated $12 million in 1993, as per the Forbes. His ex-girlfriend and associate Ghilaine Maxwell’s indictment by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2020 revealed that both co-conspirators groomed an underage victim at the ranch in 1996.
On top of that, testimony from several women also exposed that Epstein abused teenage girls and young women on the ranch. Virginia Giuffre, who has emerged as one of the most outspoken Epstein victims, was also pictured at the location. Moreover, the estate is believed to have been allegedly visited by powerful men, including a former governor of the state, as per the Guardian.
Less than a month before Epstein’s death in 2019, the New York Times published a report suggesting that the financier hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his New Mexico ranch. The report relied on accounts shared by four sources familiar with his thinking at the time.
Among the millions of documents the DOJ released on Jeffrey Epstein in January 2026, an email claims that a former staffer at the financier’s ranch had information about women having been allegedly killed and buried at the Zorro estate.
Although the sender and receiver of the DOJ-published email from 2019 have been redacted, the message established that the ex-staffer had “been there and seen it all.”
“What is damning about Jeffrey Epstein is yet to be written. Did you know somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro, two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madam G?” the email states. “Both died by strangulation during rough, fetish sex.”
Dated November 21, 2019, the virtual message also includes mentions of several “video footage of Jeffrey Epstein,” including clips of ones that allegedly showed the financier engaging in sexual activities with underage girls.
The anonymous sender purportedly demanded one Bitcoin, valued at roughly $8,000 at the time, in exchange for the material, as seen in the email.
Recent backlash tied to Epstein’s ranch
New Mexico’s leaders have called for an investigation into the ranch ever since the DOJ files surfaced on the official government website. New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard and New Mexico Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury are two such officials to have shed light on the issue, calling on the US Justice Department and the New Mexico Department of Justice to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, James Grayson, the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the New Mexico Department of Justice, said the allegation tied to the location “unsubstantiated and stem from an anonymous individual referencing events that purportedly occurred more than six years ago,” as per the ABC’s local outlet WJLA.
“We will work to obtain the original, unredacted emails and any underlying files, as access to complete and authentic materials is critical to our assessment and planning. These circumstances raise significant concerns regarding the reliability, authenticity, and credibility of the claims. Notwithstanding those concerns, we are prepared to review and assess any verifiable information should it be provided through appropriate and lawful means.”