Darren Indyke was Jeffrey Epstein's lawyer. Richard Kahn was his accountant. Since Epstein died in federal custody in August 2019, the two men have run his estate as co-executors.
Through their attorney, Dan Weiner, they say they "emphatically reject" the idea that they knew about or helped hide Epstein's abuse. Weiner told the Associated Press that New Mexico never tried to interview either man before suing, that both would have cooperated, and that no woman has accused either of them of sexual abuse or of witnessing it.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued them anyway, in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. The State of New Mexico wants a judge to stop the estate from paying the two men $75 million in bequests while the case is fought.
What the state is asking for
The complaint, State of New Mexico v. Indyke, No. 1:26-cv-03543, names Indyke and Kahn personally and as co-executors, along with the Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein and The 1953 Trust.
It brings five counts:
Participating in a sex trafficking venture, under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act
Racketeering under New Mexico law, with kidnapping as the predicate
Racketeering, with criminal solicitation as the predicate
Racketeering conspiracy
Restitution and unjust enrichment
The state asks for treble damages under its racketeering law, punitive damages, disgorgement, and an order barring the co-executors from making estate distributions while the case is pending. It asks for a jury.
The money, as the complaint tells it
The complaint says the estate was valued at $577.7 million in August 2019 and is now worth more than $107 million. Under Epstein's final arrangements, Indyke stands to receive $50 million and Kahn $25 million, "assuming availability of funds."
The estate, by the state's numbers
$577.7M
Estate value, August 2019
$107M+
Estate value now
$50M and $25M
Bequests to Indyke and Kahn the state wants frozen
Source: State of New Mexico v. Indyke, No. 1:26-cv-03543, filed Oct. 21, 2026. Allegations not proven in court.
It says Indyke was paid more than $16 million by Epstein-related entities from 2011 to 2019, and that Kahn was paid more than $10 million over the same years, plus $4.9 million paid to a firm tied to him.
The state's core allegation is about where the rest of the money went. The complaint cites:
More than $3 million paid to girls or women from 2003 to 2013 with "no discernible business purpose"
More than $6 million in cash withdrawn from 2002 to 2013
More than $30,000 paid to girls or women in 2012 through the C.O.U.Q. Foundation, which the state says the two men oversaw
These are allegations. None has been tested in court.
The ranch
Epstein bought about 7,600 acres near Stanley, in Santa Fe County, in 1993. The complaint says title passed to a company called Cypress, Inc. in December 2011, that Kahn served as its treasurer and a director, and that Indyke was secretary of Zorro Development Corp. and a signatory on its account from 2016 until July 2019. The estate sold the ranch in 2023; the complaint says Kahn oversaw the sale.
The complaint describes several women, identified only as Jane Does, who say they were brought to the ranch. It says one was 15 when she was flown there.
The part New Mexico remembers
This newspaper reported on Oct. 20 that New Mexico had an Epstein investigation that its former attorney general called "still viable for prosecution" until federal prosecutors in New York asked the state to pause.
The new complaint puts that history in the state's own words. It says the New Mexico Department of Justice opened an investigation into conduct at Zorro Ranch in 2019, that it was halted at the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and that federal prosecutors did not later share their results as promised.
Torrez's office says the criminal investigation he reopened this year remains ongoing. The civil suit is a separate track. It is, according to Courthouse News, the first law enforcement action against the two men.
"Jeffrey Epstein did not operate alone," Torrez said in announcing the suit, "and his death does not end the pursuit of accountability."
What happens next
Indyke and Kahn have not yet answered the complaint in court. The first fight is likely to be over the state's request to freeze their bequests, and over whether a New Mexico federal court can reach an estate that is being probated in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Seven years after New Mexico was told to wait, it has stopped waiting.
This story is built from the State of New Mexico's complaint, filed Oct. 21, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico; the New Mexico Department of Justice's announcement of the same day; and reporting by the Associated Press, Courthouse News and CPA Practice Advisor. Figures and allegations are the state's and have not been proven in court; several paragraphs of the public copy of the complaint are blank. Women described in the complaint are not identified. The response from Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn is from their attorney's statement to the Associated Press. We are looking for the defendants' answer to the complaint, any ruling on the request to freeze the bequests, and the federal government's account of why New Mexico was asked to pause in 2019. Questions are going to the New Mexico Department of Justice and to counsel for Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn, and any answers will be added with a dated update.