US judge releases document alleged to be Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide note
Al Jazeera Staff
A U.S. federal judge has released a document alleged to be Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide note, without verifying its authenticity. The handwritten letter, discovered by a cellmate, was filed in a related criminal case. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
On December 11, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in New York released a document alleged to be the suicide note of Jeffrey Epstein, the former financier convicted of sex crimes. The decision did not authenticate the letter but treated it as a judicial record subject to public access.
The document was filed in the criminal case of Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer and convicted murderer who shared a cell with Epstein. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Authorities at the time ruled his death a suicide.
According to Tartaglione’s lawyer, he discovered the handwritten letter on lime-yellow paper while sharing a cell with Epstein for about two weeks in July 2019. The note reads in part: “They’ve been investigating me for months – but found nothing!!! Yet I’m guilty of something 15 years ago.” Another segment states: “It’s an honor to be able to choose the moment to say goodbye. What do you want me to do – sob? Not fun – NOT WORTH IT!!!”
Tartaglione, who is serving four consecutive life sentences for drug-related murders, previously mentioned the letter in a podcast interview. According to his account, the note was tucked inside a book in their shared cell. Epstein died weeks later, on August 10, 2019.
The existence of the letter gained renewed attention after a New York Times article last year. The newspaper reported that the document had never been reviewed by federal investigators and was absent from the millions of pages of Epstein-related records released by the U.S. Department of Justice. The New York Times formally asked Judge Karas to release the letter.
The Epstein case continues to reverberate, with U.S. authorities and Congress still investigating his network. In 2024, Congress passed a law requiring the Justice Department to release all Epstein investigation files. President Donald Trump, who once acknowledged a friendship with Epstein, initially opposed the measure but signed it into law in November.
To date, no one in the United States has been criminally prosecuted directly in connection with Epstein’s crimes. However, some foreign officials, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew, United Kingdom) and former British ambassador Peter Mandelson, have been accused in relation to the matter.
