A U.S. district judge has ordered the release of a handwritten note that may have been written by Jeffrey Epstein in 2019, shortly before his death. The document was released following a request by The New York Times and was submitted to the court as part of the legal case against Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein’s former cellmate.
Tartaglione, who faces criminal murder charges, has claimed that the note was written by Epstein after a failed suicide attempt less than a month prior to Epstein’s death in August 2019. Tartaglione said he found the note inside a book the morning after Epstein’s death and turned it over to his attorneys, who included it in his legal appeals. The note, however, was not recorded in Bureau of Prisons documents. CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the note and has reached out to the FBI and Justice Department for comment.
The poorly scrawled note reads, in part: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!! So 15 year old charges resulted.” It also contains the phrases “time to say goodbye” and “No fun — not worth it!!”
Epstein died on August 10, 2019, in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide. On July 23, 2019, Epstein reported being attacked by Tartaglione in the shared cell, but former Attorney General William Barr later testified that the incident was viewed by officials as an attempted suicide.
Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender who pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution. He served 13 months in jail and was required to register as a sex offender. He was indicted in July 2019 by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of child sex trafficking before his death.
Why it matters
The release of the note adds new, though unverified, context to Epstein’s final weeks and his state of mind before his death. It surfaced as part of ongoing investigations into Epstein’s connections with high-profile individuals and the circumstances surrounding his death. The note’s contents may also affect the legal proceedings involving Nicholas Tartaglione, who was Epstein’s cellmate at the time.
Background
Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 death drew widespread attention due to his high-profile connections and the unresolved questions surrounding his apparent suicide. Epstein’s prior conviction in Florida and the federal indictment shortly before his death triggered renewed scrutiny of his alleged sex trafficking network. The Justice Department has recently released millions of documents related to Epstein’s case, revealing links to various prominent figures.
Sources
This article is based on reporting and publicly available information from the following source:
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