NEW YORK — A handwritten note that Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate says he discovered after the wealthy financier’s initial suicide attempt has been publicly released following nearly five years in a sealed court vault.
Federal Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, authorized the document’s release this Wednesday after The New York Times filed a petition last week seeking to unseal it along with other materials from a legal case involving the cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione.
The existence of this note remained largely unknown until Tartaglione, a former law enforcement officer now serving life imprisonment for the murders of four individuals, discussed it during a podcast appearance last year. According to Tartaglione, he found the note inside a book within his cell following the July 23, 2019 incident when Epstein was discovered with bedsheet material wrapped around his neck.
The brief, somewhat illegible note reads: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!!” It continues, “It is a treat to be able to choose” the “time to say goodbye,” and asks “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!”
The message concludes with “NO FUN” — those words are underlined — followed by “NOT WORTH IT!!”
Epstein died in his cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019, while facing sex trafficking charges and awaiting trial.
Officials determined his death was suicide, and investigations revealed multiple failures by correctional staff — including internet browsing and sleeping during times when they were supposed to be monitoring Epstein — that enabled him to end his life.
The authorship of the note that Tartaglione claims to have found remains unknown. Government reports that extensively examined the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death made no reference to this document.
