A purported suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein obtained by his former jail cellmate was unsealed Wednesday by a federal judge.
The letter, which is handwritten on lined paper and has not been authenticated, dates to what was believed to be Epstein’s unsuccessful suicide attempt on July 23, 2019, less than two weeks before he died.
Epstein was found “with an orange cloth around his neck” and “friction marks” on his neck, according to a report from the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General. Epstein’s cellmate told officers Epstein tried to hang himself.
The note is handwritten and reads, “They investigated me for month — Found NOTHING!!!”
The writing is difficult to read but appears to say, “So 16 year old charges resubmitted.” Then it reads, “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do - Bust out cryin!! NO FUN, NOT WORTH IT!!”
Epstein was discovered by his cellmate, a former New York City police officer named Nicholas Tartaglione. Immediately after the incident, Epstein said he was attacked by Tartaglione but later told investigators he did not know what occurred and did not want to talk about how he had sustained injuries, according to a report from the Justice Department’s office of inspector general.
According to Tartaglione’s former attorney Bruce Barket, the purported suicide note was written on a yellow legal pad.
Barket said he and his team never formally authenticated the note, “but we all became comfortable that this was Epstein’s note in part because of some similar writing that CBS ran.” Barket was referring to an image of another alleged Epstein note also written on a yellow legal pad that was obtained by “60 Minutes” that also ends with the line “NO FUN!!”
Previously, a spokesperson for the Justice Department provided a statement about the alleged note after reporting about its existence, “It is difficult to comment on something neither The New York Times, nor we, have seen. The Department underwent an exhaustive effort to collect all records in its possession responsive to the Act. This included collecting records from the Bureau of Prisons and Office of Inspector General. As a result of these efforts, nearly 3 million pages have been produced.”
Epstein, 66, was arrested in July 2019 on multiple sex-trafficking charges from alleged incidents spanning from 2002 to 2005 related to the sexual abuse of girls as young as 14.
Despite being placed under suicide watch after he was found semiconscious in his cell that same month, he denied being suicidal.
He was found dead by suicide in his jail cell that August — the result of what federal investigators concluded in 2023 was a cascade of misconduct, negligence and errors by staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 or go to 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
