Breaking News Exclusive: Epstein's Zorro Ranch Had a Massive Spy-Grade Private Communications Network — And the New Trump-Connected Owners Have Kept It Running (For Some Reason)
Federal records reveal that Zorro Ranch, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's former New Mexico property, was operating a licensed, massive, bidirectional private microwave communications system linking the ranch to a major relay hub near Sandia National Laboratories. Those same records show that the ranch's new owners — Donald and Mary Catherine Huffines, who have direct financial and political ties to the Trump administration — have kept the system operational since purchasing the property in 2023.
To understand the scale of this system, consider who actually uses this class of communications infrastructure. Permanent fixed point-to-point Industrial/Business Pool microwave systems are the province of NSA field stations, CIA operational facilities, FBI secure data operations, Department of Defense installations, electric utilities managing grid control between substations, natural gas pipeline operators, high-frequency trading firms moving transaction data between exchanges at microsecond speeds, major bank data centers, and television network backhaul operations. None of that describes a vacation ranch, a cattle operation, a private residence, or a rural Christian retreat with a modest year-round staff.
Federal Communications Commission records I reviewed indicate the system links the ranch's main residence to Sandia Crest Tower in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque. The new owners terminated several other FCC licenses on the property in 2024 and 2026, but kept this one, and kept it in the name of the LLC formerly owned by Epstein.
FCC records show that Zorro Development Corp., registered at 49 Zorro Ranch Road, Stanley, New Mexico, still holds two active Microwave Industrial/Business Pool licenses — call signs WQXY316 and WQXY300 — both granted July 12, 2016, and both expiring July 12, 2026. It raises an unavoidable question: who is running Zorro Development Corp. since Epstein's death, and why is its a private industrial communications network still operating on that property?
The two active licenses form a complete system. License WQXY316 carries transmissions from the Zorro Ranch main residence to Sandia Crest Tower. License WQXY300 carries transmissions from Sandia Crest Tower back to Zorro Ranch. Together they constitute a permanent, fixed, bidirectional private microwave communications link — a dedicated two-way data channel operating entirely outside commercial internet infrastructure.
The Sandia Crest end of the system is anchored by a lattice tower standing 45.7 meters tall — a substantial dedicated structure. Sandia Crest Tower is one of the most significant communications relay points in New Mexico. Data reaching Sandia Crest from Zorro Ranch can be routed onward through that infrastructure to virtually any destination in the world.
Rural vacation properties, regardless of size, usually meet their communications needs through satellite internet, cellular signal boosters, or VSAT dish installations. The Industrial/Business Pool microwave license category exists for a specific purpose: to allow organizations to move large volumes of data privately, reliably, and entirely outside commercial internet infrastructure — through channels where traffic cannot be monitored, intercepted, or logged by third parties.
For a property that served as the operational base of a man who ran what federal prosecutors described as a years-long international sex trafficking network — and who investigators and survivors have long alleged operated a systematic blackmail operation targeting powerful figures — a private, off-network, bidirectional data channel capable of moving large volumes of information could have been a central operational requirement. I get that.
What I don’t get is why it’s still running.
This is a developing story. Additional reporting is ongoing.
And the woman continues to amaze😱
Gee, I wonder if that's how the FBI lost Epstein files with no other information available? Inquiring minds wanna know.