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  28. The Loud Fight Ends
  29. The Bill Came Due
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  31. Saying Stop Is Not Stopping
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  40. The Rule Is Not the Safeguard
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  44. War's Real Bill Arrives Far From the Gulf
  45. The Legal Justification Comes Last
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  47. The Price of a War Nobody Calls a War
  48. War's Second Front Is Economic
  49. Three Instruments, One Method
  50. Fight Over the Machinery
  51. Documents Caught Up With Statements
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  54. Coercion Is the Policy
  55. You Cannot Sue a Bond Market
  56. War Washington Cannot End
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  58. The Bill Comes Due
  59. Money Lost, Surveillance Won
  60. Government Stopped Showing Its Work
  61. Routed Around, Not Repealed
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  63. Past the Point It Can Hold
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  65. Who Holds the Veto
  66. Risk Moves Down
  67. The Government Rents Its Surveillance
  68. The Powers Expand, the Checks Sit Empty
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  70. The Senate Traded Away Its Leverage
  71. Two Orders and a Shrinking Stockpile
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  74. Change the Accounting
  75. Two Clocks
  76. Who Decides What Counts as a Threat
  77. The Claim Arrives First

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In the thread Zorro Ranch Operations

Richardson at the Ranch

In August 2012, the office of former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson coordinated with Jeffrey Epstein's executive assistant Lesley Groff about a possible Richardson visit to Zorro Ranch. Groff noted that Richardson had been to the ranch before. The thread is one of the cleanest documentary records of a named former governor's office managing direct contact with Epstein 4 years after the Non-Prosecution Agreement.

Investigation. , updated . 4 minutes. By .

The New Mexico State Capitol ("Roundhouse"), Santa Fe (2019).
The New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe.Photo: F McGady, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Documents
2
documents
Citations
14
citations
People
2
people
Pages of record
7
pages of record
Reading time
4
minutes to read
Source discipline

10 primary, 4 corroborating, 0 tertiary. 14 citations in all.

  • T1 Primary
  • T2 Corroborating
  • T3 Tertiary
Anchor documents
People in this piece
  • Jeffrey Edward Epstein, Principal, Deceased
  • Lesley Groff, Enabler, Immunity recipient
Reading key
Miami HeraldSource 14reportingSarah KellenResearch Vault referenceEditorial essayargumentargument or opinion

The thread begins on July 30, 2012, with an email from Caitlin Wakefield at the Office of Governor Bill Richardson to Lesley Groff. Richardson had completed his second and final term as New Mexico governor in January 2011. His post-governorship office retained the "Office of Governor Bill Richardson" brand and kept Wakefield as staff.

Wakefield was writing to flag Richardson's upcoming Santa Fe schedule.

"Dear Leslie, Gov will be back in Santa Fe on August 6th & 7th and he wanted me to let you and Jeffrey know. He says that Woody Allen might be there at that time. Thanks, Caitlin." EFTA00407143EE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

The email carried the Office of Governor Bill Richardson signature block and came from Wakefield's billrichardson.com address.

The August 7 Attempt

By August 7, Richardson was in Santa Fe. Woody Allen, who Wakefield had flagged as possibly joining, was in San Francisco and did not come to New Mexico. Groff emailed Wakefield just before noon:

"Hi Caitlin...Woody stayed in San Francisco, but Jeffrey is at the Ranch and the Governor is welcome to go visit him today there or Jeffrey says he could meet in Santa Fe tomorrow...might something work?" EFTA00407143EE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

A short exchange followed. Wakefield: "Gov is flying back to Boston tomorrow." Groff: "Let Gov know JE was asking!" Wakefield: "Totally! ... Ill ask Gov. Im in MA. Waiting to hear back from him via email." EFTA02163259EE, EFTA02163259 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

Groff also supplied the ranch address: "49 Zorro Ranch Rd in Stanley, NM. I'm pretty sure he has been before.." EFTA00407143EE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

The parenthetical is a small detail and a load-bearing one. Groff expected Richardson to know the property. The record shows her treating this as a possible follow-up visit, not a first-time trip.

The Context

August 2012. 4 years after Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida. 1 year after Richardson completed his second term as New Mexico governor. By that date, Richardson had been named in civil allegations brought by Virginia Giuffre naming him among the public figures Epstein had trafficked her to. Richardson denied the allegations publicly and continued to deny them through his death in 2023. This article is not about the merits of those allegations.

What the August 2012 thread establishes is that, 4 years into the post-NPA period, Richardson's staff was actively coordinating a visit to Epstein's private residence, and Groff treated Richardson's familiarity with the ranch as already established fact.

What the Record Does Not Show

Whether Richardson visited the ranch on August 7 or met Epstein in Santa Fe on August 8. Whether the earlier visit Groff referenced ("pretty sure he has been before") had occurred during Richardson's governorship (2003-2011) or after. The full scope of Richardson-Epstein correspondence outside this thread. Whether other emails between the Richardson office and Epstein's staff are indexed in the EFTA corpus. None of those questions is answered by the verified primary source.

Several Items Remain Open

The full Richardson-Epstein correspondence record. Any prior dated visit by Richardson to Zorro Ranch. Whether the August 2012 outreach was followed up after Richardson returned to Boston. Richardson's published schedule for August 7-8, 2012, if preserved in the Richardson archive. A complete retrieval is the next step.

Documentary artifact

The thread, interactive

5 messages.

Wakefield and Groff

The indexed thread: a staffer in the post-governorship Office of Bill Richardson coordinating with Epstein’s executive assistant about a possible ranch visit, 4 years after Epstein’s NPA plea.

Sent from Wakefield’s billrichardson.com address, with the Office of Governor Bill Richardson signature block. Richardson had completed his second term 18 months earlier; the post-governorship office retained the brand and kept Wakefield on staff. The mention of Woody Allen is flagged as a possible fellow guest.

Source.EFTA00407143, at justice.govEE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

Groff’s offer: either today at the ranch, or tomorrow in Santa Fe. Allen is dropped from the conversation. The offer is framed in Epstein’s voice (“Jeffrey says he could meet”).

Source.EFTA00407143, at justice.govEE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

Wakefield is in Massachusetts; Richardson is en route back to Boston. The question is whether he can detour to Zorro that afternoon or to Santa Fe the next day. The response is informal — the typos (“Ill”, “Im”) are in the indexed source.

Source.EFTA02163259, at justice.govEE, EFTA02163259 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

Groff supplies the ranch address and adds a load-bearing parenthetical: “I'm pretty sure he has been before.” She is treating Richardson as someone already familiar with the property. The record does not show when an earlier visit would have occurred.

Source.EFTA00407143, at justice.govEE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document

The thread closes without a confirmed visit on August 7 or August 8. Whether a visit happened on either day, or whether the earlier visit Groff referenced ever occurred, is not answered by the indexed record.

Source.EFTA00407143, at justice.govEE, EFTA00407143 on Epstein Exposed, an alternative host for the same document