A suicide note allegedly written by disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein prior to his death in federal custody in August 2019 has reportedly remained sealed and confidential for seven years, according to a report by The New York Times. The document, which has not been publicly released or reviewed by federal investigators, is now at the centre of renewed legal and media interest.
The note was reportedly first discovered in July 2019 by Epstein’s then-cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer who is currently serving multiple life sentences for murder and drug-related convictions. The discovery came days after Epstein’s initial suicide attempt, when he was found unconscious in his cell with cloth around his neck. Tartaglione said he found the note inside a graphic novel in their shared cell, written on a torn yellow sheet from a legal pad and containing the phrase “time to say goodbye.”
According to accounts cited by The New York Times, Tartaglione did not immediately hand the note over to prison authorities. Instead, he passed it to his legal team, who reportedly claimed to have authenticated it, though details of that process remain unclear. Tartaglione later said he withheld it from officials out of concern that Epstein might accuse him of staging an attack to make it appear as a suicide attempt.
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The report further states that a federal judge overseeing Tartaglione’s separate criminal proceedings ordered the note to be sealed, keeping it out of public and investigative scrutiny. The Justice Department and investigators handling Epstein’s death case have not examined the document, and it has not been incorporated into official findings related to his death.
The New York Times has since requested that the court unseal the document, arguing it is not relevant to Tartaglione’s case but may be significant in understanding Epstein’s mental state in his final days. The request comes amid ongoing public and legal scrutiny over Epstein’s extensive network, his sex trafficking convictions, and his associations with powerful figures across politics, finance, and royalty.
Epstein died in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, just over a month after his arrest. His death, officially ruled a suicide, sparked widespread controversy and allegations of security failures at the Manhattan Correctional Center, which has since been closed. Questions have persisted regarding earlier incidents inside the facility, including a previous suspected suicide attempt and claims of an assault involving his cellmate, which Tartaglione has consistently denied.
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