CEDAR CREST, N.M. — New Mexico’s attorney general sued the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday, accusing it of blocking the state from investigating sex crimes at Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling ranch near Santa Fe.

The lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., said the department and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stonewalled New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s criminal investigation into Epstein and others, taking steps that “actively harms victims and undermines the public interest.”

The lawsuit seeking judicial intervention to force the federal government to turn over materials to New Mexico’s investigators was filed the same day that the state released a report saying “those directly responsible for protecting New Mexicans relied on others to do their job,” including federal prosecutors in New York.

“The federal prosecutors, though, never prioritized New Mexicans, focusing instead on Epstein’s misdeeds in New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and the Virgin Islands, while leaving Epstein’s offenses in New Mexico unexamined,” the report said.

Meanwhile, according to the Washington lawsuit, Torrez and his senior prosecutors “have faced sustained resistance” to the kind of information-sharing that had occurred in the past between state and federal investigators.

In a statement, the Justice Department said it was not releasing some information the state requested because federal court orders ban disclosing “victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures.”

It said protecting victim privacy remains a top priority, though the Justice Department “remains available to assist New Mexico’s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.”

Torrez, in an interview with NBC News’ Hallie Jackson, accused the Justice Department of hiding “behind the Epstein survivors.”

“We have provided them with ample legal justifications” for releasing the files, Torrez said.

The lawsuit said the Justice Department and Blanche were hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators when New Mexico is one of the few jurisdictions that may still be able to hold Epstein’s associates accountable or “provide some sense of justice to survivors.”

In a videoconference call with reporters, Torrez said his office has made 10 separate requests for key information and has been ignored or denied.

“We have heard repeatedly they will cooperate and what our team has experienced is anything but cooperation,” Torrez said.

“Todd Blanche today with a stroke of a pen could grant us the access that he claimed,” Torrez said. “Instead they have decided to stonewall, to obstruct and to frankly conceal for whatever reason.”

The lawsuit references a Justice Department prosecution memo that describes a sexual assault at Zorro Ranch by a woman who was not Epstein’s former girlfriend and close associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Asked on “Hallie Jackson Now” whether Torrez believes there is another woman who facilitated assaults in a similar way to Maxwell, he said, “The truth is we don’t know at this point.”

Torrez added that having access to all the files would put them in a better position to seek the answer to that and other questions.

Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 after he was denied bail on sex trafficking charges lodged against him when he was arrested a month earlier.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking charges at a trial in Manhattan, where some of the witness testimony alleged that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused women at the New Mexico ranch.

Epstein purchased his sprawling estate, Zorro Ranch, in Stanley, New Mexico, a sparsely populated ranching community about 30 miles south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private airstrip and helipad.

The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, a Republican who was recently appointed state comptroller in Texas. In a February social media post on X, Huffines said the property has been renamed San Rafael Ranch after a saint associated with healing and that his family plans to operate a Christian retreat there.

In December, the Justice Department started releasing investigative records pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Complaints quickly arose about shoddy redactions and too many sealed materials from accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the transparency act. Records that were released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context.

In a joint statement Wednesday to NBC News, some of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse said they stood behind Torrez’s request for the files.

“The DOJ’s argument that it won’t hand over files in order to protect survivors’ identities is laughable, when the DOJ has already revealed their names and personal information,” the statement said. “By holding onto these files, Todd Blanche’s DOJ is simply continuing to protect abusers.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.