A suicide note allegedly written by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been quietly sealed in a New York courthouse for years, The New York Times reported Friday.
Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, said he discovered the note just weeks before Epstein’s death in July 2019, when Epstein had been found injured and unresponsive in his jail cell, the Times reported. The note, which a federal judge sealed as part of Tartaglione’s own criminal case, allegedly said, “What do you want me to do, bust out crying? Time to say goodbye.”
The note has not been released to the public despite repeated calls for transparency on records relating to Epstein. President Donald Trump signed legislation that required the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publicly release all un-redacted files related to Epstein, leading the agency to release 3.5 million pages of documents.
Epstein told prison guards in July 2019 that Tartaglione assaulted him and gave him red marks on his neck, according to the Times. Bureau of Prisons records show that a week after the accusation, Epstein told officials that he “never had any issues” with Tartaglione and felt safe sharing a cell with him.
A suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein weeks before his death in jail has been kept secret for years, locked up in a courthouse. That means investigators scrutinizing his death lacked what could have been a key piece of evidence. https://t.co/ep9ObVcJJR
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 30, 2026
Epstein’s cellmate said he found the note tucked inside a graphic novel and gave it to his lawyers in case Epstein continued to claim that he was trying to hurt him. Records state that Tartaglione’s lawyers authenticated the note, though it does not lay out how. The note was not mentioned in the official investigations surrounding Epstein’s death.
The timeline of the incident shows that Tartaglione met with his lawyer and informed him that he found the note, according to the Times. Lawyers unsuccessfully tried to authenticate the note on two separate occasions, though it allegedly was authenticated in late 2019 or early 2020.
After his alleged suicide attempt in July 2019, Epstein was under psychological evaluation. At the time of his death on Aug. 10, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, the two correctional officers on duty, did not perform the required 12 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. counts and completed a form falsely saying that they did.
At 6:33 a.m., the officers entered Epstein’s cell to serve breakfast and found him unresponsive with a noose around his neck, according to the timeline. He was then taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s brother, told “Fox & Friends” in October 2019 that Epstein’s autopsy was more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging. The 66-year-old had two fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx and a fracture on the left hyoid bone above the Adam’s apple.
The DOJ charged Nova and Thomas in November 2019 with one count of “conspiring to defraud the U.S.” by “impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the MCC” and for falsifying records. The charges were later dropped against the guards after prosecutors said they had complied with their deferred prosecution agreement, which required them to admit to falsifying records, complete community service and cooperate with a DOJ Inspector General review.
Recorded evidence was only available from one camera due to a malfunction at the prison, causing recordings to be made for only about half of the cameras, according to a DOJ Inspector General’s report.
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