John J. Kelly (d. July 22, 2026) was a New Mexico lawyer and public official whose documented dealings place him at two separate points in the Epstein record.

1993 — closing counsel for the Zorro Ranch purchase. A Limited Power of Attorney dated March 3, 1993, executed by Jeffrey Epstein as trustee of the Zorro Trust, appointed John J. Kelly as attorney-in-fact to execute the conveyance documents for Zorro Trust's purchase of the New Mexico property that became Zorro Ranch (from the King family entities, under a February 25, 1993 purchase agreement; recorded in Santa Fe County). By its terms the instrument was limited to that transaction and terminated thirty days after the deeds were recorded. At the time Kelly was partner-in-charge of the Albuquerque office of Hinkle, Cox, Eaton, Coffield & Hensley. Source: DOJ production EFTA00065857.

1993–2000 — U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. Later in 1993 Kelly was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, an office he held through 2000. Source: Kelly's official resume, City of Albuquerque records.

The documented overlap, with the obvious insinuation checked and set aside: the same person who served as Epstein's closing counsel on the 1993 purchase then held the federal prosecutorial office with New Mexico jurisdiction for the rest of the decade. The natural question — whether a report of Epstein's conduct reached that office and went unaddressed — has a documented answer that cuts against the insinuation: the 1996 complaint against Epstein and Maxwell was made in New York, to the New York City Police Department and then the FBI in New York; the documented law-enforcement failures that followed were New York failures, and no public record shows that 1996 complaint reaching the U.S. Attorney's office in New Mexico.

Asked about his Epstein connection in reporting, Kelly said he had "absolutely no knowledge" of Epstein's crimes until media accounts decades later, that he assisted "at the King family's request," and that he does "not specifically recall any direct interactions with Mr. Epstein." This register records the documented 1993 overlap and nothing more; it makes no claim that Kelly knew of, received, or ignored any allegation, and none should be inferred. Sources: Santa Fe New Mexican; Just Security Epstein–Maxwell timeline.