Alleged Epstein Suicide Note Has Been Sealed for Years

A note that may shed light on Jeffrey Epstein's mindset before his death has been sitting out of public view in a New York courthouse for nearly seven years. The handwritten message, allegedly found by Epstein's then-cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione after an apparent suicide attempt in July 2019, was later sealed by a federal judge as part of Tartaglione's unrelated murder case and never reviewed in official probes of Epstein's death, according to documents cited by the New York Times.

• Tartaglione says the note, ripped from a yellow legal pad and tucked inside a graphic novel, complained that investigators had probed Epstein for months and "found nothing." ABC News reports that he first described the note to podcast host Jessica Reed Kraus last year, saying Epstein wrote, "What do you want me to do? Cry about it?" Tartaglione added, "And he was weird because he wrote a smiley face, and then he wrote 'time to say goodbye.'"

On Thursday, the Times asked the judge to unseal the note. The Justice Department says it hasn't seen it, despite an extensive records search that produced millions of pages on Epstein. A two-page document titled "Chronology" in those files describes Tartaglione's lawyers having the note authenticated, apparently through handwriting experts, before it was turned over to the court and sealed amid a dispute within Tartaglione's legal team. It's not clear who created the document or why, the Times notes.

The Times reports that according to court filings, the note "appears to have become enmeshed in a protracted dispute" among Tartaglione's lawyers. Tartagione lawyer Bruce Barket declined to comment on the note to ABC. "The entire Epstein affair, as it relates to Nick, is under seal, not just the supposed note, if there is one," he said. Tartaglione, a 58-year-old ex-cop, is serving four life sentences in federal prison for four murders linked to a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy. He is appealing his 2023 conviction and has petitioned President Trump for a pardon, claiming that prosecutors told Epstein he would "walk free" if he implicated Trump.