A federal judge in New York has released a document purported to be a suicide note written by Jeffrey Epstein, offering the public the first glimpse of the text, which has remained sealed in court records since 2019. The unsigned note was unsealed Wednesday by Judge Kenneth Karas of Federal District Court in White Plains, New York, who presided over the criminal case of Epstein’s former cellmate.
What Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note says word for word
Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide note: The note begins with a defiant statement about the previous investigation.
The note begins with a defiant statement about the previous investigation. “They investigated me for months – THEY FOUND NOTHING!!!” begins, before referring to charges described as going back many years.
Then it moves in the register. “It is a pleasure to be able to choose a time to say goodbye,” the note continues.
“Watch what I want me to do – burst into tears!” it is read.
The note ends with two underlined phrases. “NO FUN,” he concludes. “NOT WORTH IT!!”
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The authenticity of the note has not been independently verified. The New York Times, which asked the court to unseal the document, said it had not confirmed whether Epstein wrote it. LiveMint could not verify the authenticity of Jeffery Eptsien’s alleged suicide letter.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency had never seen the note before.
Who found Epstein’s note and how it was hidden
Nicholas Tartaglione, a former Briarcliff Manor, New York, police officer who shared a cell with Jeffery Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, said he discovered the note in July 2019 after Epstein was found unresponsive in their shared cell with a strip of cloth wrapped around his neck.
Tartaglione told the Times in phone interviews conducted from a California prison that he found the suicide note tucked inside the graphic novel after Epstein was removed from their cell after an apparent suicide attempt.
“I opened the book to read it and there it was,” Tartaglione said. The note was written on a piece of yellow paper torn from a legal pad.
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Tartaglione said he gave the memo to his lawyers because he believed it might prove useful if Epstein continued to claim he assaulted him. When prison officials questioned Epstein about the marks on his neck after the July incident, Epstein initially claimed that Tartaglione had assaulted him and denied that he was suicidal. He later told prison officials that he “never had any problems” with his fellow inmate. Tartaglione consistently denies any attack.
Why Epstein’s suicide note was sealed in US court for years
The report has not been released even though the Justice Department has released millions of pages of documents related to Epstein in what has been described as an unprecedented act of transparency. A Times search of those records did not turn up a copy of the memo.
The documents contained a cryptic two-page chronology tracing how the memo made its way into the court proceedings surrounding Tartaglione’s case. This chronology indicated that Tartaglione’s lawyers verified the note, although it did not detail the method by which they did so. The promissory note subsequently became the subject of a protracted legal dispute between his legal team and was judicially sealed to protect attorney-client privilege.
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Judge Karas sought input from all parties in the case before agreeing to unseal the documents. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which prosecuted Tartaglione, did not oppose the release. In a letter to the judge, prosecutors wrote that “there appears to be strong public interest in the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.”
How Jeffrey Epstein died and why questions persist
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, which has since been closed. He was 66 years old. The New York medical examiner ruled his death a suicide. His first apparent attempt in July 2019 did not prove fatal.
In the years since his death, documented security failures at the prison have led to persistent and widespread theories about the circumstances in which he died and whether his death was in fact a suicide. The release of the alleged memo is likely to reignite those discussions.
What happened to Epstein’s cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione
Tartaglione was awaiting trial on quadruple-murder charges while sharing a cell with Epstein. He was convicted in 2023 and is currently serving four consecutive life sentences. Throughout, he maintained his innocence and appealed against his conviction.
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The note was placed on the court docket Wednesday night after the Times filed a lawsuit the previous Thursday and after Tartaglione published an article in which Tartaglione described the note and the circumstances surrounding its discovery.
