Epstein ranch twist: MAGA candidate Don Huffines named as mystery buyer of Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico home

The mystery owner of one of Jeffrey Epstein's most famous abodes, a ranch in New Mexico, was revealed to be MAGA millionaire and Texas Comptroller candidate, Don Huffines. The real-estate mogul purchased the convicted child sex offender's "Zorro Ranch" in 2023, using a limited liability company he created just weeks before the purchase, reported Santa Fe New Mexican. His wife is listed as a trustee and his son as LLC manager, The Center Square reported.

“Four years after Mr. Epstein’s death, the Huffines family purchased property in New Mexico listed at public auction whose proceeds benefited his victims. Prior to the auction listing, they had never visited the property,” Huffines’ campaign spokesperson Allen Blakemore said in a statement on Friday.




Spanning across 7,600 acres in Southern Santa Fe County, the ranch was at the centre of Epstein's alleged plan to "seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women," reported the New York Times previously. Among the more than three million documents released with the Epstein Files, the ranch is mentioned 4,200 times.

Renamed by the millionaire as "Rancho de San Rafael," the ranch apparently has bodies of at least "two foreign girls," buried at the property, both of whom died by strangulation, as per an email in the recent database of Epstein files, released by the Department of Justice. On Friday, a New Mexico official called for an investigation into the property due to the email.

“If you are buying a piece of land, the first thing that should be done is total transparency. If the property is suspected of criminal activity, why not be transparent with state officials in New Mexico? Huffines wants to run the finances of Texas, yet he won’t be transparent with his own dealings with former Epstein assets,” said Wayne Hamilton, former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas, to The Center Square. "What an odd piece of property to purchase," questioned journalist Molly Jong-Fast in an X post.

Who is Don Huffines?

Huffines is a proud Republican and Trump supporter according to his campaign website. A former GOP state senator from Dallas County's District 16, the 67-year-old is now running for comptroller, a statewide office in Texas overseeing the state's financial matters. Not just the politician, his son Russell Huffines was hired by the Trump administration in June 2025 as associate director of agency outreach and is being paid $83,500 annually for the position he still holds today, as per RealClear Investigations.

In 2022, he unsuccessfully challenged Governor Greg Abbott and is currently facing competition from Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, a former state senator appointed to the job last summer by Abbott, Michael Berlanga and Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick in the March 3 Republican primary.

As per his campaign mentioned on LinkedIn, he plans to implement DOGE for Texas by "cutting government waste and increasing efficiency." He co-owns and runs Huffines Communities, a real estate land development company in North Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Finance. He and his wife Mary Catherine have four sons and one daughter and he is also a grandfather as per his social media profile.

The revelation of his ownership of one of the disgraced financier's personal properties, which also forms a major centre of his scandalous criminal affairs raises numerous questions. The late criminal was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019, but the release of the files by the DOJ has revealed his enormous network, encompassing elected leaders, tech billionaires and even Hollywood celebrities.