Federal Judge Releases Purported Jeffrey Epstein Note From 2019 Cellmate Case

A federal judge in New York unsealed a handwritten note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein that had been sealed for nearly seven years as part of the criminal case against his former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ruled there was no sufficient reason to keep the note sealed after The New York Times petitioned for its release.

The document was placed on the court docket Wednesday evening. The New York Times has not authenticated that Epstein wrote it.

The note, written on yellow paper ripped from a legal pad, reads: “They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!! It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! NO FUN. ” It was written before Epstein’s first apparent suicide attempt on July 23, 2019.

Tartaglione, a former police officer in Briarcliff Manor, New York, told The New York Times that he discovered the note in a graphic novel after Epstein was removed from their shared cell following that incident, in which Epstein was found unresponsive with a strip of cloth wrapped around his neck.

Tartaglione said he gave the note to his lawyers because he believed it could prove useful if Epstein continued to claim that Tartaglione had attacked him. After the July incident, Epstein initially told jail officials that Tartaglione had assaulted him and that he was not suicidal.

Epstein later told officials he “never had any issues” with his cellmate. Tartaglione has long denied assaulting him. The note became entangled in a legal dispute among Tartaglione’s lawyers and was placed under seal to protect attorney-client privilege.

Tartaglione’s lawyers authenticated the note, though court records do not explain how.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which prosecuted Tartaglione, did not contest the note’s release, citing a strong public interest in the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. A two-page chronology uncovered during searches of Justice Department records described how the note became caught up in Tartaglione’s case.

The Justice Department has released millions of pages of Epstein-related documents in recent years, but this note was not among them. A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency had never seen it.

Epstein was placed on suicide watch for 31 hours after the July 23 incident before being removed. He was found dead on August 10, 2019, at age 66 in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging.

Tartaglione was convicted in 2023 of multiple murders and is serving four life sentences in a California prison. He has maintained his innocence and appealed his conviction. The note’s emergence adds one more document to the public record on Epstein but has not altered the official determination that his death was a suicide.