Kiwi couple who managed Epstein’s properties were former Defence Force members
Wednesday, 4 February 2026
A Kiwi couple who managed Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling New Mexico ranch and worked on his notorious island in the Caribbean are both former members of the New Zealand Defence Force, Stuff can reveal.
Brice and Karen Gordon managed Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico from the early 2000s. Former colleagues said the pair were highly organised and professional after years of experience working as chefs in the Army and Navy, respectively.
Do you know more? Email newstips@stuffdigital.co.nz
“They were very organised, very organised people,” a man who began working on the ranch before the Gordons arrived told Stuff, saying the couple were “probably the best thing that ever happened to the ranch,” and made changes as soon as they started there.
The former colleague said that Epstein often relied on the Gordons to prepare his other residences at Palm Beach and Little St James, travelling ahead of him to ensure the site was ready for his arrival.
“They were the people that would go before he would show up at the place or whatever place it may be, set it all up, or be there shortly after.”
Little St James, Epstein’s small private island in the US Virgin Islands, was owned by the convicted sex offender until his death in 2019, and was used as a location for the alleged abuse and trafficking of children.
Brice Gordon is listed as the Little St James “island manager” in one of the released documents - one of more than 11,000 files available when searching his name. None of the documents seen by Stuff allege the couple was involved in any offending.
In a November 2016 message, sent to an email address that has been redacted by the US Justice Department, Brice says he and Karen will be returning to their “new home” in LSJ, thought to mean Little St James.
In an earlier email exchange, in 2010, Epstein tells Brice that they should both go to his property in Palm Beach, Florida, noting “the house needs a go through”.
Brice responds: “So zorro lsj pb [Zorro Ranch, Little St James, Palm Beach] what more do you want Jeffrey I think really need to have discussion.”
“That’s OK,” Epstein emails back. “I thought our understanding was for you to over see all the houses… the priority is where i am, always.”
Other emails discuss the Gordons travelling to New Zealand for holidays and to visit family.
A spokesperson for the NZDF confirmed to Stuff that a person by the name of Brice M Gordon served in the NZ Army from January 1978 to September 1988, and a person by the name of Karen L Gordon served in the Royal New Zealand Navy from May 1980 to December 1989.
Cameras and communal showers
A former IT contractor at the Zorro Ranch, who worked at the property in the 2000s, said the Gordons were effective managers, and he had positive experiences working with them.
But, he told Stuff, there “absolutely” was a network of cameras inside the remote, palatial desert home.
The contractor left before Epstein was charged in 2008 with soliciting sex from underage girls. He said that what he saw inside the home pushed him to leave, as did the knowledge that he would be required to travel to Epstein’s notorious private island.
“That’s one of the reasons I got out of there… noticing what was going on and then being told that I was gonna have to go to Little Saint James… I really panicked and I didn’t want to go there, you know what I mean?”
He said some of the rumours of hidden dungeons at Zorro Ranch were untrue because those rooms were mostly full of air conditioning equipment, though some did contain computers.
Like the other former worker who spoke to Stuff, the contractor said he never saw any criminal behaviour taking place at Zorro Ranch. “I know he was up to a bunch of s…, but I didn’t see anything like that there,” he said of Epstein.
But what he did see was enough to cause him to leave the ranch. He said there were nude paintings around the property, alongside strange decor such as mounted buffalo heads and suits of armour.
Where family photos might be displayed, on desk and mantelpieces, there were instead multiple photos of Epstein with politicians, celebrities and young women.
“The worst of it was on Ghislaine’s computer and of course she said, ‘Well, that’s just modelling shots’ and I don’t think, you know, young girls having sex is modelling shots.”
Asked if he believed the girls to be underage, he replied: “We’re talking about underage girls, in their development and such, you know.”
Photos from inside the main house at Zorro, taken in the 2000s, show a large indoor swimming pool, lushly decorated bedrooms, mantelpieces filled with photos and unusual decorations such a large cross featuring a figure of a crucified Christ.
Others show a large communal shower.
The contractor said he was not aware that Brice or Karen Gordon had any knowledge or involvement with anything criminal but said they handled a lot of Epstein’s affairs when it came to his properties.