Epstein cellmate says he found a suicide note. Justice Department says it’s seeing it for first time
A note that Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate claims to have found after the financier’s first alleged suicide attempt in prison in 2019 has been made public — not because of the Justice Department’s release of records related to the sex offender, but as part of an unrelated case.
The government’s explanation: he never got the bill.
“The note has not yet been authenticated, and this is the first time the DOJ has seen it as well,” the department said Thursday when asked why it was not part of the voluminous Epstein files.
Nicholas Tartaglione said he discovered the handwritten note in a book after the disgraced financier was found in their cell at a Manhattan federal prison with a strip of sheet around his neck. Epstein was then moved to another cell, where a few weeks later he was found dead, alone, in a suicide.
Tartaglione, a former police officer then charged with murder, said he gave the note to his lawyers to protect against any claims that he might have harmed Epstein while they were in custody together. Epstein was then awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
As of 2021, the note was in the safe of the New York federal court. One way or another, this is part of the proceedings between Tartaglione and his lawyers regarding their representation in his murder case. Everything about this dispute was hidden from the public by the judge because it involved attorney-client privilege.
Tartaglione, a former suburban New York officer turned drug dealer, was convicted in April 2023 in the strangulation death of a man and the execution-style killings of three others. He said he discovered the note in a book he was reading in his prison cell.
The New York Times asked U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas to release the memo, noting that Tartaglione, currently serving a life sentence, had spoken about it publicly. The judge granted the request Wednesday, adding that Epstein’s personal interest in the memo had been “significantly diminished” due to his death.
“They investigated me for a month – found nothing!!! » says the short note, which is difficult to decipher in some places and has not been authenticated. “It’s a treat to be able to choose” the “moment to say goodbye,” the note continues. “You want me to – Stop crying!!”
“NO FUN. NOT WORTH IT!!” concludes the note.
According to prison records, Epstein had friction marks and skin irritation on his neck following the alleged suicide attempt on July 23, 2019. Prison officials said he was breathing heavily but was responsive. Epstein told a guard that Tartaglione attacked him, but later recanted.
Prison officials then placed Epstein on suicide watch for 31 hours before downgrading him to psychiatric observation, which was his status when he killed himself on August 10, 2019.
The Justice Department did not object to the publication of the memo. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley told the judge the public is interested in the circumstances of Epstein’s death.
Buckley also said that even though two Justice Department lawyers were included in the proceedings between Tartaglione and his attorneys in 2021, the judge barred them from disclosing anything from those hearings to protect his attorney-client privilege. So if they saw the note, they weren’t allowed to tell anyone about it.
