A federal judge released a document Wednesday purported to be a suicide note written by the late Jeffrey Epstein and including the line: “Being able to choose your own time to say goodbye is a pleasurable experience.”
Epstein, the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker, was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 in what was ruled a suicide.
The note read, “They examined me for a month – found nothing!!! So 10 year old allegations resurfaced! Being able to choose a time to say goodbye is not a good thing. Onlookers want me to cry in public!! No fun – not worth it!!
The handwritten note was said to have been found by his former prison cellmate, convicted murderer and former police officer Nicholas Tartaglione.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas, who oversees the Tartaglione case, released the note after a request by The New York Times, which reported its existence last week.
Karas ruled that the note qualified as a judicial document subject to the public’s right of access because it was produced in connection with Tartaglione’s criminal case. Tartaglione is serving four consecutive life sentences for drug-related murders. Karas took care of that case.
The judge found no legal reason to keep it sealed. But neither did they confirm the authenticity of the note, nor assess its chain of custody. Instead he considered those issues irrelevant to the decision to open the seal.
“Neither party has identified any competing consideration that would justify sealing the notes,” the judge ruled.
The note, written on a yellow legal pad, was presented by lawyers for Tartaglione, who was Epstein’s cellmate for about two weeks in July 2019 when both were held in a Manhattan jail.
“They investigated me for a month – nothing was found!!! The result was 15 year old charges,” the note read. “Being able to choose the time to say goodbye is a joy. Wacha wants me to do this – burst into tears!! No fun – not worth it!!”
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting the prostitution of a minor, a conviction that led to a controversial plea deal and a short prison sentence. He was arrested again in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors, accused of recruiting and abusing underage girls in New York and Florida.
The note surfaced in July 2019, when Epstein was found alive in a Manhattan jail cell with marks on his neck in what authorities later described as an apparent suicide attempt. According to Tartaglione’s public account, the note was hidden inside a book in their shared cell. Epstein died several weeks later, on August 10, 2019, in a separate incident ruled a suicide.
Tartaglione mentioned the note in a podcast interview last year, but the issue gained widespread attention after The Times reported on its existence last Thursday. The Times reported that the note was never seen by federal investigators and was absent from millions of Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department in recent years.
In ordering the unsealing, the judge dismissed privacy concerns, noting Epstein’s death and the widespread public discussion of the alleged note.
