By Michael Katz | Wednesday, 06 May 2026 09:29 PM EDT
A federal judge in New York released a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein weeks before the convicted sex offender was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Judge Kenneth Karas of the Southern District of New York acted after a news organization petitioned to unseal the document. Karas, a George W. Bush appointee, released the note Wednesday.
A report stated that the document had not been authenticated. The note was written in July 2019 following an incident where Epstein was discovered unresponsive with a strip of cloth around his neck in his Manhattan jail cell. Epstein survived but died weeks later at the same facility. His death was ruled a suicide.
The barely legible note began, “They investigated for months — found nothing!!!” Another line referenced charges tied to allegations from years earlier.
“It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye,” the note continued. “Watcha want me to do — bust out cryin!! NO FUN — not worth it!!”
The note was not included in documents released by the Department of Justice in the past year. A Department of Justice spokesperson stated that the agency had never seen it.
When jail officials questioned Epstein about red marks on his neck after the July incident, he claimed that his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, had attacked him and that he was not suicidal.
Tartaglione, a former police officer serving four life sentences after his 2023 conviction in a quadruple homicide case, has long denied assaulting Epstein.
The note was turned over to Judge Karas as part of Tartaglione’s criminal case. The disclosure raised questions about why this potentially significant piece of evidence had not been part of official investigations into Epstein’s death.
Tartaglione told the news organization he found the note tucked inside a book in their jail cell. Tartaglione’s legal team examined the note’s authenticity, citing a two-page chronology included among documents released by the Department of Justice.
The chronology indicated that the note became entangled in legal disputes involving Tartaglione’s attorneys, leading a judge to take possession of the document and seal related records.
According to the chronology, Tartaglione told his attorney about the note on July 27, 2019, four days after Epstein was found with marks on his neck.
Over the following days, Tartaglione’s attorneys repeatedly tried to authenticate the note but were unsuccessful.
The note was later authenticated by early January 2020, though it is unclear how or by whom. It remains unclear who wrote the chronology and why, according to reports.
A report stated that the note was not referenced in the Department of Justice inspector general’s 2023 report on Epstein’s death. That report documented major security failures at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Center and upheld the medical examiner’s ruling that Epstein died by suicide.
Epstein’s death at age 66 has fueled widespread scrutiny and speculation, driven by the security lapses and his connections to high-profile people.
