New Mexico State Trust Land Access Memorandum (October 15, 1996)

UpdatedSeptember 13, 2026

ByEpsteinWiki

Snapshot

Record title: New Mexico State Trust Land Access Memorandum
Record date: October 15, 1996
Issuing office: New Mexico State Land Office, Office of the Commissioner of Public Lands
Internal identifier: MJG-815
Document status: Partial memorandum preserved within a larger agricultural lease file
Internal page shown: Page 3
Principal subject: Access, competitive bidding, fencing, and state trust land enclosed within the boundaries of Zorro Ranch
Ranch lease referenced: GM-2791, listed as 1,158.97 acres
Parcel discussed: Parcel 2, later identified in the file as Lots 1 through 4 of Section 36, Township 13 North, Range 9 East, totaling 84.86 acres
Later lease: State Agricultural Lease GR-2088
Primary named ranch representative: Lyman Fogel
Primary source: New Mexico State Land Office agricultural lease packet for GR-2088

What Is This Record?

This record is the surviving third page of an internal New Mexico State Land Office memorandum dated October 15, 1996. The page addresses access and bidding questions involving two parcels of state trust land. Its most important passage concerns Parcel 2, which the memorandum says was fenced within the confines of Zorro Ranch.

The page identifies the ranch’s existing lease as GM-2791 and gives its area as 1,158.97 acres. It names Lyman Fogel as a ranch spokesman and records that he said he did not realize Parcel 2 was state trust land. According to the memorandum, Fogel wanted Zorro Ranch included in the bidding procedure.

The memorandum recommends offering Parcel 2 through a separate bid involving the original applicant and Zorro Ranch. It also states that a fence line constructed approximately four years earlier appeared to have been installed without authorization from the Commissioner of Public Lands.

The available page is important because it documents a state parcel physically enclosed within the ranch boundary before Zorro Trust received the later GR-2088 lease for that parcel. It is equally important not to overstate the finding. The memorandum does not identify who built the fence. Because it dates the fence to approximately four years earlier, the fence may have predated Jeffrey Epstein’s 1993 acquisition of the ranch property.

The larger state file shows what happened next. The Land Office opened a restrictive sealed bid process. Zorro Trust, care of Jeffrey Epstein, won the bid for the 84.86 acre parcel. State Agricultural Lease GR-2088 began on February 3, 1997, and was scheduled to expire on September 30, 2001.

Source and Provenance

The memorandum appears in a 61 page scanned packet published by the New Mexico State Land Office. The file is titled as pages 56 through 116 from the GR-2088 agricultural lease record.

The first PDF page is visibly marked:

OCTOBER 15, 1996
Page 3
MJG-815

This means the public packet begins with page 3 of the memorandum. Pages 1 and 2 of MJG-815 are not included in the cited PDF extract. The page also begins in the middle of a sentence concerning whether an applicant could obtain access to the subject property. Researchers therefore cannot reconstruct the complete background, the identity of the original applicant, or every parcel recommendation from this page alone.

The visible page ends with the initials “MJG” and the word “Attachments.” The initials may identify the author, but the page does not print the author’s full name. The attachment pages that follow are labeled “PHOTOGRAPHS: MJG-815” and contain field photographs and captions for Parcel 1 and Parcel 2.

The PDF metadata says the packet was scanned using a Ricoh device on July 16, 2019. That is a digitization date, not the date the memorandum was written. The underlying records range from 1996 into later lease administration.

On July 16, 2019, the New Mexico State Land Office announced that it had provided more than 400 pages of Zorro Ranch lease records to the New Mexico Attorney General. The public GR-2088 packet appears within that larger state land records context.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act production also contains later property documents involving the same lease. EFTA00310887 is a 103 page property file that references the assignment of State Land Office Grazing Lease GR-2088 during the transfer of Zorro Ranch assets from Zorro Trust to Cypress, Inc. That EFTA record is related evidence, not the primary source for the October 1996 memorandum.

What the Record Contains

The surviving memorandum page contains several distinct findings and recommendations.

First, it discusses access to a subject parcel and says that if access could not be obtained, bidding should be restricted to three listed landowners. If access was obtained, the applicant should be included in the bidding. Because the page begins mid sentence, the full access analysis and original applicant identification are missing.

Second, the page lists Adam or Daniel White and the New Mexico Boy’s Ranch among neighboring interests. It notes that the New Mexico Boy’s Ranch had recently assigned lease GM-1811, covering Section 36, Township 11 North, Range 9 East and 640 acres, to Lamar and Virgie Cravens. The memorandum says this might make the Cravens the abutting landowner to the south and east and suggests including them in the bidding.

Third, the page makes its central Zorro Ranch finding:

Parcel 2 is fenced within the confines of the Zorro Ranch (GM-2791, 1,158.97 acres).

Fourth, it identifies Lyman Fogel as the ranch spokesman. The memo says Fogel indicated that he did not realize the parcel was state trust land and wanted to be included in the bid process.

Fifth, the writer recommends offering Parcel 2 through a separate bid involving the applicant and Zorro Ranch.

Sixth, the memorandum states:

Note that the fenceline constructed approximately four years ago (Item 2 for Parcel 2) appears to have been placed without authorization from the Commissioner.

The accompanying photographs identify Parcel 2 as Section 36, Township 13 North, Range 9 East. Their captions describe a four wire fence with steel posts south of County Road 38B and say the fence line was apparently constructed without authorization from the Commissioner.

The packet also includes photographs of Parcel 1, identified as Section 2, Township 10 North, Range 9 East. Those images show older fencing described as physically deteriorated and functionally obsolete. Parcel 1 should not be silently merged with Parcel 2. The October memorandum dealt with more than one land issue, and the available page does not preserve the full analysis.

Key Evidence Points

A state parcel was physically enclosed within Zorro Ranch. The memorandum does not merely describe Parcel 2 as adjacent to the ranch. It says the parcel was fenced within the ranch’s confines.

The ranch already held a large state lease. The memorandum identifies Zorro Ranch with lease GM-2791 and an area of 1,158.97 acres. Parcel 2 was a separate state trust land issue.

The Land Office treated the enclosure as a problem requiring a bid process. The memorandum recommends a separate bid involving Zorro Ranch and the other applicant rather than simply recognizing the ranch’s existing physical control.

The fence appeared unauthorized. Both the memorandum and photograph captions state that the fence line appeared to have been constructed without authorization from the Commissioner of Public Lands.

The document does not identify the fence builder. The memorandum dates construction to approximately four years earlier. That estimate places construction around 1992, while Epstein acquired the ranch in 1993. The evidence therefore does not support stating that Epstein, Zorro Trust, Fogel, or ranch employees built the fence.

Zorro Trust later won the parcel lease. A February 14, 1997 letter in the same file states that Zorro Trust, care of Jeffrey Epstein, won the competitive bid for Lots 1 through 4 of Section 36, totaling 84.86 acres.

The winning bid was materially higher than the stated minimum. A January 3, 1997 bid notice set the minimum first year offer at 71 cents per acre, totaling $60.18. The later award letter states that Zorro Trust submitted $2,000 and that its annual rental was $2,000.

The parcel became State Agricultural Lease GR-2088. The lease term began February 3, 1997, and was scheduled to end September 30, 2001. An August 5, 1997 letter sent an approved copy to Zorro Trust, care of Jeffrey E. Epstein.

What the Record Does and Does Not Prove

What it establishes

The record establishes that the New Mexico State Land Office documented Parcel 2 as state trust land fenced inside the confines of Zorro Ranch in October 1996.

It establishes that a ranch representative told the Land Office he had not realized the parcel was state trust land and requested inclusion in the bid process.

It establishes that the Land Office believed the fence appeared to have been installed without the Commissioner’s authorization.

It establishes that the agency did not simply transfer the parcel to the ranch based on enclosure. The office initiated a restrictive sealed bid process.

The larger file establishes that Zorro Trust won the 84.86 acre Parcel 2 lease in February 1997 and that the lease was identified as GR-2088.

What it does not establish

The memorandum does not establish who constructed the fence. It does not say Epstein directed the construction, knew of the fence when it was installed, or ordered state land enclosed.

It does not establish that the fence was erected for trafficking, abuse, surveillance avoidance, or any other criminal purpose.

It does not prove that criminal activity occurred on Parcel 2. The record is an administrative land access and leasing document.

It does not identify the original competing applicant because the public copy begins on page 3. Later pages show that Ublivion Enterprises participated in a bid involving open acreage and lost, but the incomplete memorandum prevents a definitive statement that every reference to “the applicant” on page 3 concerns that company.

It does not prove that Fogel’s reported lack of knowledge was true or false. It records what the state employee said Fogel indicated.

It does not establish that Parcel 2 comprised the whole ranch, the whole state lease footprint, or every state parcel associated with Zorro Ranch.

People and Entities Appearing in the Record

Lyman Fogel: The October 1996 memorandum identifies Fogel as a Zorro Ranch spokesman. It records his statement that he did not realize Parcel 2 was state trust land and his request that the ranch be included in the bid process. A January 1997 notice was sent to him regarding the competitive bid.

Jeffrey Epstein: Epstein is not named on the surviving October 1996 memorandum page. He appears in later records in the same packet. The February and August 1997 lease correspondence is addressed to Zorro Trust, care of Jeffrey E. Epstein, at 457 Madison Avenue in New York.

Zorro Ranch: The ranch is identified as enclosing Parcel 2 and holding lease GM-2791 for 1,158.97 acres.

Zorro Trust: The trust won the competitive bid for the 84.86 acre parcel and became the named lessee under GR-2088. The award letter states that the application used the name Zorro Ranch, while state records normally used Zorro Trust.

Shannon Heali: A February 14, 1997 letter says a Land Office employee spoke with Heali of Zorro Ranch and received verbal consent to use Zorro Trust as the lessee name. The letter says written confirmation was expected.

New Mexico State Land Office: The state agency evaluated access, photographed the parcels, administered the bid, issued the lease, and later released the records.

Ray Powell: The correspondence was issued during Powell’s service as New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands. His name appears in the agency letterhead.

Suzie Jacquez: Jacquez, of the Surface Resources Division, signed the January, February, and August 1997 correspondence concerning the bid and lease.

Adam or Daniel White: The memorandum lists this neighboring interest in the access and bidding discussion. The punctuation in the scanned document is ambiguous.

New Mexico Boy’s Ranch: The organization is listed as a neighboring lease interest. The record says it had recently assigned GM-1811 to Lamar and Virgie Cravens.

Lamar B. and Virgie Miree Cravens: The memorandum identifies the Cravens as possible abutting leaseholders who might warrant inclusion in the bidding.

Ublivion Enterprises: Later records show that Ublivion Enterprises submitted a $501 bid and did not win. Its exact relationship to the unnamed applicant on the missing earlier memorandum pages remains unresolved.

Timeline Significance

Circa 1992: The October 1996 memorandum estimates that the Parcel 2 fence line was constructed approximately four years earlier. This date is approximate and does not identify the builder.

March 1, 1993: Related property records identify this as the date Zorro Trust acquired the core ranch property. This means the estimated fence construction may predate Epstein’s ownership.

October 15, 1996: The State Land Office records that Parcel 2 is fenced within Zorro Ranch and recommends a separate bid involving the ranch and another applicant.

January 3, 1997: The Land Office notifies Lyman Fogel that Lots 1 through 4 of Section 36 are available through a restrictive sealed bid. The letter warns that the fence appears unauthorized and may have to be removed if the ranch loses the bid.

February 3, 1997: The bid deadline arrives. The eventual GR-2088 lease term begins on this date.

February 6, 1997: The Land Office informs Ublivion Enterprises that it did not win and will receive a refund of its $501 offer.

February 14, 1997: The Land Office tells Zorro Trust, care of Jeffrey Epstein, that it won the competitive bid for 84.86 acres. The annual rental is stated as $2,000.

August 5, 1997: The Land Office sends Epstein an approved copy of GR-2088.

2019: New Mexico officials review the wider lease history after Epstein’s federal arrest. The State Land Office transfers more than 400 pages to the Attorney General.

September 2019: The State Land Office announces cancellation action against Cypress, Inc.. Reuters reported that state officials sought to retake approximately 1,244 acres after questioning whether the leases were used for grazing or primarily to increase privacy around the estate.

2026: New Mexico renewed its criminal and legislative examination of Zorro Ranch. The 1996 memorandum is relevant to that work because it documents how state land and private ranch boundaries overlapped decades earlier.

Related Evidence

EFTA00310887 contains later transfer documents involving Zorro Trust, Cypress, Inc., and the assignment of State Land Office Grazing Lease GR-2088. It helps trace the lease beyond the original 1997 award.

EFTA01305252 contains a broader collection of Zorro Ranch and New Mexico land records. Independent review has identified the 1993 purchase agreement and later Land Office communications within that file.

EFTA00080967 contains 2019 federal correspondence discussing New Mexico’s investigation and the state’s movement toward revoking Epstein related land leases.

EFTA00019183 includes another copy or related production of federal correspondence concerning the New Mexico investigation, lease cancellation, and state trust land beneficiaries.

The New Mexico Survivors’ Truth Commission Interim Report provides later historical and investigative context concerning Epstein’s acquisition and use of Zorro Ranch. It should not be used to make the 1996 administrative memorandum prove criminal conduct that it does not describe.

The 2019 Reuters report on cancellation of Epstein land leases states that the leased acreage formed part of the larger ranch footprint and that officials questioned whether the state land was being used for its stated grazing purpose.

Sleuth and Independent Reporting

Rye Howard Stone’s Document Zero investigation Gary King Said He Didn’t Think He Had Ever Met Jeffrey Epstein examines New Mexico political, financial, and land records surrounding Epstein. The report identifies the 1993 ranch purchase, later Land Office routing, state lease documents, and the relationships among Zorro Trust, Epstein’s entities, and New Mexico officials. Its land record analysis is useful context for the administrative chain surrounding the ranch.

The Document Zero article also highlights later Land Office records involving access to cultural sites and improvements on leased state land. Those later events are separate from the October 1996 Parcel 2 memorandum and should not be merged into a single incident.

Nobody Asked, another Document Zero investigation, examines the delayed FBI interview of a professional reflexologist who worked at Zorro Ranch. It shows the importance of reconstructing who had access to different areas of the property and how employees and service providers moved within it. It does not address the Parcel 2 fence or establish how the state acreage was used.

Independent reporting becomes most useful when it connects administrative files without collapsing their distinctions. GM-2791, GR-2088, GR-2122, the privately owned core ranch, later Cypress assignments, and the full state acreage were related but not interchangeable.

Reliability and Limitations

The memorandum has high reliability for what a New Mexico State Land Office employee recorded on October 15, 1996. It is a contemporaneous government record preserved within the agency’s lease file. The attached photographs and later correspondence support the basic parcel and fence narrative.

The document has several important limitations.

Only page 3 of the October 15 memorandum appears in the cited packet.
The page begins in the middle of a sentence.
The full author name is not printed. Only the initials MJG appear.
The original applicant is not identified on the surviving page.
The statement about Fogel is a state employee’s account of what Fogel indicated, not a signed statement from Fogel.
The memorandum says the fence appeared unauthorized. It does not document a final adjudication or enforcement order against a named builder.
The estimated fence age is approximate.
The memorandum does not identify who constructed, paid for, maintained, or directed the fence.
The later 1997 letters establish the lease result, but they do not restore the missing memorandum pages.
The scanned packet includes many later administrative documents. Their inclusion in one file does not mean every page concerns the same parcel or event.
OCR can misread names, numbers, and handwritten notes. The visible page image should control over automated transcription.
Later official claims about the purpose of the broader lease holdings are not retroactive proof of intent in 1996.

The strongest next sources would be pages 1 and 2 of MJG-815, the complete appraisal assignment, bid file, parcel maps, fence authorization records, and any contemporaneous correspondence from Zorro Ranch or Zorro Trust.

Survivor Safety and Privacy Review

This memorandum does not identify a survivor or describe sexual abuse. It is a land administration record.

Its relevance to the Epstein investigation comes from the physical geography of a property where survivors later reported abuse. That context must be handled carefully. The existence of a fence, lease, or access restriction does not by itself prove trafficking or abuse.

At the same time, property control can matter when reconstructing survivor accounts. Remote acreage, controlled gates, limited public access, staff escorts, private aircraft facilities, and unclear boundaries may affect how isolated a person was and what witnesses could observe. Those broader questions require survivor testimony and corroborating evidence beyond this memorandum.

Survivor accounts should not be used as decoration for a property records article. When their testimony is relevant, it should be linked accurately, attributed to the survivor, and separated from administrative findings.

Why This Record Matters

The memorandum documents a concrete boundary and access problem years before Epstein’s conduct at Zorro Ranch received sustained public scrutiny. State trust land was not merely near the ranch. Parcel 2 was fenced within it.

That fact helps researchers understand how the ranch’s functional footprint could differ from its deeded ownership. A private ranch can exercise practical control over land through fencing and access even before a formal lease resolves the legal relationship.

The resulting bid also shows how physical enclosure became formal lease control. After the Land Office identified the issue, Zorro Trust entered the competitive process and won the 84.86 acre lease.

The record matters for accountability because later New Mexico officials questioned whether Epstein related entities used state grazing leases to increase privacy around the estate. The 1996 memorandum cannot prove that later conclusion, but it provides an early documentary point in the chain of enclosure, bidding, and lease acquisition.

It also offers a warning against easy accusations. The fence was estimated to be older than Epstein’s ranch ownership. A careful article must document the unauthorized appearance of the fence without assigning its construction to Epstein absent evidence.

Finally, the missing first two pages matter. The surviving page has been repeatedly summarized as if it were a complete memorandum. It is not. Identifying what is missing is part of preserving the evidence.

Fact Check

Claim	Assessment	Basis
The memorandum is dated October 15, 1996	Supported	Date printed on the surviving page
The cited PDF contains the complete memorandum	False	The packet begins on internal page 3 of MJG-815
Parcel 2 was fenced within Zorro Ranch	Supported	Express statement in the memorandum
Zorro Ranch held lease GM-2791 for 1,158.97 acres	Supported	Express parenthetical reference in the memorandum
Lyman Fogel was identified as a ranch spokesman	Supported	Express statement in the memorandum
Fogel said he did not realize the parcel was state trust land	Supported as a reported statement	The memorandum records what Fogel indicated
The fence appeared to lack authorization from the Commissioner	Supported	Memorandum and photograph captions
Epstein built the fence	Not supported	No builder is identified, and the estimated construction date may predate Epstein’s ownership
Parcel 2 totaled 84.86 acres	Supported by later file records	January and February 1997 correspondence identifies Lots 1 through 4 and the acreage
Zorro Trust won the competitive bid	Supported	February 14, 1997 award letter
GR-2088 began February 3, 1997	Supported	Award and approval correspondence
The memorandum proves criminal activity occurred on Parcel 2	Not supported	It is an administrative land record
The wider state lease holdings were later challenged	Supported	2019 Land Office statements and Reuters reporting

Questions Still Unanswered

Where are pages 1 and 2 of memorandum MJG-815?
Who was the original applicant discussed in the missing portion?
What was the full assignment given to the Land Office employee who prepared MJG-815?
What full name corresponds to the initials MJG?
Who constructed the Parcel 2 fence?
What evidence supported the estimate that the fence was approximately four years old?
Did the fence predate Zorro Trust’s March 1993 purchase?
Did Epstein, Fogel, or another ranch representative know Parcel 2 was state trust land before the October 1996 review?
Was any notice of violation or enforcement action issued concerning the fence?
Was the fence ever removed, relocated, or formally authorized?
Was Ublivion Enterprises the applicant referenced on the missing pages?
What criteria governed the restrictive sealed bid?
Why was Zorro Trust’s $2,000 annual offer so much higher than the stated $60.18 minimum?
How was Parcel 2 used after GR-2088 was issued?
Did inspectors obtain routine access to the parcel during the lease term?
How did GR-2088 interact with GM-2791, GR-2122, and the privately owned ranch acreage?
What records document the later assignment from Zorro Trust to Cypress, Inc.?
Were any survivor allegations, witness accounts, or investigative events specifically located on state trust acreage rather than the privately owned ranch?
What happened to the parcel after the 2019 cancellation proceedings?
Does the complete State Land Office file contain additional photographs, maps, notes, or correspondence not included in the public packet?

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