Ten Thousand Acres

July 4, 2019. Two days before arrest.

Jeffrey Epstein's Gulfstream IV flew eight legs in a single day. Palm Beach to Teterboro. Teterboro to Aspen. Aspen to Albuquerque. Albuquerque to Seattle. Seattle to Napa. Napa to New York. New York to St. Thomas. St. Thomas back to New York.

Every major Epstein property. One aircraft. One day.

It was an asset inspection tour — or a document retrieval run — conducted in the final hours before everything collapsed. And stop number three, sandwiched between Aspen and Seattle, was a private airstrip serving 10,000 acres of high desert in the Galisteo Basin, south of Santa Fe.

49 Zorro Ranch Road. Stanley, New Mexico. Population: approximately 250.

Four Companies, One Ranchlink

Epstein didn't own Zorro Ranch. Not personally. He owned it the way he owned everything — through layers.

Deutsche Bank's due diligence research from April 2014 — conducted six years after Epstein's conviction — traces the corporate web in detail. Zorro Ranch, LLC was incorporated in New Mexico on December 27, 2002. The executives listed: Jeffrey Epstein as Owner, President, Treasurer, and Director. Darren Indyke as Secretary.¹

The same file lists Zorro Development Corp as a foreign profit corporation with perpetual duration and an address at 110 East 59th Street, New York — Epstein's Manhattan office. Equipment liens with Road Machinery Company dating back to 1995 show the construction operation was active for nearly 25 years.

Property assessment records put the ranch's total market value at $18,145,397 — with $16.6 million in improvements alone.

Four entities. One ranch. One owner whose name was misspelled "EPSTIEN" in the county assessor's records. Nobody noticed, because nobody was looking.

$9.3 Millionlink

Between 2007 and 2019, $9,330,185 flowed from Epstein's personal accounts to Zorro Development Corporation via Wells Fargo. Regular transfers, every few weeks: $50,000 here, $100,000 there. A hundred and thirty-four outgoing wires over twelve years.²

Six incoming transfers totaled $1,483,623. The largest: $516,809.27 in July 2012, labeled "Repayment Zorro Ranch Cattle."

Half a million dollars in cattle. On a ranch that was supposedly about science and dinner parties.

The last transfer is the one that matters. April 2019 — three months before arrest — $400,000 flowed back from Zorro Management LLC to Epstein's accounts. The entity was still financially active. The machine was still running.

The Compoundlink

This was not a weekend property. Zorro Ranch was a staffed compound with its own phone system, fiber-optic infrastructure, ranch vehicles, staff housing, and a dedicated email: zorro.office@gmail.com.

Karen served as Ranch Manager. Brice Gordon ran senior operations. Ranch hands lived on-site. And if any of them wanted a day off, they needed personal approval from one person.

"JE."³

The phone system was upgraded from Vodavi to Panasonic digital. When lightning struck the communications infrastructure, ranch staff described it as "Basic Armageddon."⁴ Contact lists were distributed to all employees.⁵ Construction projects ran continuously — site walls, stucco, paving, solar installation.

Then there was the water. Balleau Groundwater, Inc. proposed a $2.295 million deep well project — a wellfield development plan for a property in a county where most homes relied on standard wells.⁶

Ten thousand acres. Its own communications network. A multi-million-dollar water supply. Staff who answered directly to Epstein. Infrastructure built for permanence, not vacations.

The Lottery Ticketlink

On September 30, 2009, an informant emailed the FBI. She copied Director Mueller.

"Some interesting facts that should be passed on to the investigative agent on the Epstein case."

"1. Zorro Trust (belonging to Epstein), won an $80 million lottery ticket in NMexico"

"2. Zorro ranch belonging to Epstein sits close to US Mexican border where most trafficked children are routed prior to being dispersed to East Coast."⁷

The FBI forwarded it internally the same day. One agent to another: "FYI, call me if u feel we should discuss further."

Zorro Trust — confirmed as an Epstein entity by his own bookkeeper Bella Klein, who listed it at JPMorgan alongside Hyperion Air, JEGE Inc., Air Ghislaine Inc., and Ghislaine Maxwell's personal accounts.⁸

The odds of winning Powerball under the 2008 rules: 1 in 146,107,962.

You are 500 times more likely to be struck by lightning. If you bought one ticket every week, you would win on average once every 2.8 million years.

In the world of money laundering, lottery tickets are a known mechanism. Purchase a winning ticket from the actual winner at a premium — pay $90 million for an $80 million ticket. Claim the prize through a trust entity. The money comes out clean: taxed, documented, legitimate lottery winnings from the state of New Mexico.

Whether that happened here isn't proven by the documents. What is proven: Epstein's trust won the Powerball. The FBI was tipped. Director Mueller was copied. And nothing appears to have happened.

September 3, 2010, 1:00 PMlink

Three emails arrived in Jeffrey Epstein's inbox within the same minute. All from zorro.office@gmail.com.

1:00:08 PM — Renee Burns, Assistant Manager:

"Mr. Epstein. This e-mail is to inform you of my resignation from my position with Zorro Development, Inc. My last day of work will be September 17, 2010."⁹

1:00:13 PM — Eddy Burns, Ranch Hand:

"Mr. Epstein. This e mail is to inform you of my resignation from my position at Zorro Development. My last day of work will be September 17, 2010."¹⁰

1:00:20 PM — Eddy Burns again. A separate email, twelve seconds later:

"Mr. Epstein. This e mail is to inform you that we are removing our cattle from the land held by Zorro Development, Inc. The hard copy letter will be forthcoming."¹¹

Same last name. Same minute. Same last day. And the cattle were coming off the property.

Eddy and Renee Burns had worked and lived at Zorro Ranch. They kept their own cattle on Epstein's land, as ranch employees sometimes do. Whatever they saw, whatever they knew, whatever made both of them walk away on the same Friday afternoon — they wanted out. And they wanted their livestock out with them.

The emails are addressed to "Mr. Epstein." Formal. Final. Twelve seconds apart. They didn't even write a combined message.

Two days before arrest, the plane stopped at the ranch. Twelve years of wire transfers fed the operation. Four shell companies masked the ownership. An $80 million lottery ticket cleaned something. And when two employees quit on the same day, they took their cattle and left.

49 Zorro Ranch Road. Stanley, New Mexico. Population: 250.

The nearest town had fewer people than a Costco on a Tuesday.

This article is part of the Zorro Ranch research series. Next: The Harvard Keycard — Scientists Beyond Oversight.

Sources & Documentslink

1. EFTA01295229 — Deutsche Bank due diligence on Zorro Development Corp, April 2014. NM corporate filings, property records, executive listings. View →
2. kabasshouse financial database — 140 transactions involving Zorro entities, 2007–2019. Search →
3. EFTA02101905 — Zorro Ranch vacation request form requiring "JE" approval. View →
4. EFTA00849722 — Ranch phone system upgrade and lightning strike incident. View →
5. EFTA02141223 — Zorro Ranch staff contact list distributed to employees. View →
6. EFTA01105085 — Balleau Groundwater wellfield project for Zorro Ranch, $2.295M. View →
7. EFTA01657839 — FBI tip from "Conchita," September 30, 2009. Lottery win, trafficking route, copied Director Mueller. View →
8. EFTA01594981 — Bella Klein (HBRK Associates) confirms Zorro Trust ownership under Jeffrey Epstein at JPMorgan. View →
9. EFTA02421398 — Renee Burns resignation email, September 3, 2010, 1:00:08 PM. View →
10. EFTA02421371 — Eddy Burns resignation email, September 3, 2010, 1:00:13 PM. View →
11. EFTA02421413 — Eddy Burns cattle removal notice, September 3, 2010, 1:00:20 PM. View →