Purported Epstein suicide note is released

A federal judge has unsealed a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein. The document had remained sealed for years as part of the criminal case against his former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione.

In the note Epstein declares, “They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!!” He adds that the result was charges going back many years.

“It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye,” the note states.

“Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!” it continues.

The note concludes with the underlined words “NO FUN,” followed by “NOT WORTH IT!!”

Tartaglione discovered the note in July 2019. It was written on a piece of yellow paper torn from a legal pad and tucked inside a graphic novel. This occurred after Epstein was removed from their shared cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan following an apparent suicide attempt in which a strip of cloth was wrapped around his neck. Epstein survived that incident but was found dead weeks later at age 66.

Judge Kenneth M. Karas of Federal District Court in White Plains, N.Y., released the note Wednesday after The New York Times petitioned the court to unseal it. The Times has not authenticated whether Epstein authored the document.

Tartaglione, a former police officer awaiting trial on quadruple murder charges at the time, shared the cell with Epstein. He gave the note to his lawyers because he believed it could prove relevant to disputes over the July incident. The document later became entangled in legal conflicts among Tartaglione’s attorneys and stayed under seal to protect attorney-client privilege.

The release brings the long-hidden note into public view, even though the Justice Department’s earlier mass document dump on the Epstein case did not include it.