New Mexico’s State Land Office is canceling Jeffrey Epstein’s leases for his 10,000 acre Zorro Ranch effective next month. In a letter to Epstein’s company Cypress, Inc., the state’s commissioner of public lands said the leases would be canceled effective Oct. 4 for multiple reasons. New Mexico's attorney general concluded that the leases may have been obtained through “illegitimate means for purposes other than ranching or agriculture.” The deceased alleged sex trafficker died by suicide in his New York jail cell last month after being charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy charges earlier this year. “This land was no doubt used to protect the privacy of Epstein and his co-conspirators, and today we took steps to take back this public land,” Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said in a press release. “Moving forward, we will determine the best use of this land for the future.” Richard said some possibilities included leasing the land to a New Mexico ranching family or working to build a memorial to “survivors of trafficking, assault, and other sex crimes.”
