A suicide notice purportedly written by the convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein is locked contained in the case file of his former cellmate, convicted quadruple assassin Nicholas Tartaglione, who advised The New York Instances it was written on paper from a yellow authorized pad and tucked inside a guide.
In keeping with the Instances, Tartaglione discovered the notice in July 2019, after Epstein unsuccessfully tried to kill himself — about two weeks earlier than Epstein died by suicide in his decrease Manhattan jail cell.
Epstein was present in his cell on July 23, 2019, “with a selfmade noose customary round his neck,” in line with a Bureau of Prisons incident report.
Epstein was “mendacity within the fetal place on the ground of his cell sporting a t-shirt and boxers. He was respiration closely and was loud night breathing. … His neck was pink with no abrasions,” the report stated. Epstein was “decided to have sustained a round line of erythema on the base of the neck and friction marks on the entrance of neck.”
In keeping with the report, At first Epstein alleged that his cellmate, Tartaglione, had tried to kill him, an allegation he didn’t repeat. He later stated he couldn’t recall what occurred. Tartaglione has denied making an attempt to hurt Epstein.
Tartaglione first talked about the existence of the purported suicide notice in a podcast final yr.
“It stated one thing like ‘FBI, , regarded into me for months and located nothing.’ Then he wrote, ‘What would you like me to do? Cry about it?’ And he was bizarre as a result of he wrote a smiley face, after which he wrote ‘time to say goodbye,'” Tartaglione stated on the podcast.
This picture supplied by the New York State Intercourse Offender Registry exhibits Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017.
New York State Intercourse Offender Registry
The notice is now a part of a sealed file in Tartaglione’s felony case. The New York Instances on Thursday filed a petition with a federal decide to have the alleged notice unsealed, arguing that Tartaglione has publicly mentioned it and {that a} two-page chronology doc concerning the alleged notice was included within the Justice Division’s recent disclosures of Epstein recordsdata.
U.S. District Decide Kenneth Karas ordered the events to the case to reply to the Instances unsealing request by Could 4.
Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York didn’t know of any suicide notice written by Epstein, sources aware of the matter advised ABC Information, however a two-page chart contained within the Justice Division’s Epstein recordsdata referenced it.
“Someday between 7/23 and seven/27, NT discovered the notice,” the chart stated, referencing Nicholas Tartaglione by his initials.
The chart stated Tartaglione’s lawyer, Bruce Barket, authenticated the notice in January 2020 however didn’t say how.
Reached by ABC Information on Thursday, Barket declined to remark as a result of the matter is sealed.
“The complete Epstein affair, because it pertains to Nick, is below seal, not simply the supposed notice, if there may be one,” Barket stated.
After the primary doable suicide try, Epstein himself denied he was suicidal throughout a “suicide danger evaluation” he underwent whereas in jail.
“Inmate Epstein denied any previous or current suicidal ideation, intention or plan. He denied ever participating in any suicide makes an attempt or self-injurious habits previously,” the analysis stated. “He acknowledged he lives to have enjoyable, to get pleasure from life, and to be taught. He stated his future plans embrace preventing his case and going again to his regular life.”
Epstein was taken off suicide watch the next day, July 24, 2019, however was stored below psychological analysis.
“Mr. Epstein acknowledged, ‘I’ve no real interest in killing myself,’ a workers psychologist on the Metropolitan Correctional Heart wrote in a report. “He defined though his state of affairs is ‘not excellent’ resulting from his being incarcerated, he famous he has ‘tons to do for [his] authorized case.’ He described having a ‘great life,’ to incorporate interactions with ‘fascinating individuals and initiatives.’ He stated ‘it could be loopy’ to take his life. He furthered, ‘I might not do this to myself.'”
Epstein, a rich financier who owned two personal islands within the Virgin Islands, got here below investigation for allegedly luring minor women to his seaside residence in Palm Seaside, Florida, for massages that turned sexual. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for intercourse crimes expenses after reaching a controversial non-prosecution settlement in 2007 with the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Miami.
In 2019, Epstein was indicted on expenses that he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor women at his houses in Manhattan, New York, and Palm Seaside, Florida, amongst different places,” and used money funds to recruit a “huge community of underage victims,” a few of whom had been as younger as 14 years outdated.
Epstein died in jail whereas awaiting trial on August 10, 2019. His dying was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York Medical Examiner’s Workplace, and the Justice Division concurred with that discovering.
Tartaglione was convicted in 2023 and sentenced in 2024 to 4 consecutive phrases of life imprisonment. His attraction is presently pending earlier than the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.
