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By Open Chronicle with agencies
A document described as an apparent suicide note written by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released publicly on Wednesday following a court order in the United States.
The release came after a request by The New York Times and was authorized by a US district judge as part of court proceedings connected to former prison inmate Nicholas Tartaglione, who once shared a jail cell with Epstein.
The handwritten note had previously been submitted to the court in May 2021 during Tartaglione’s criminal murder case appeal. Tartaglione has claimed that Epstein wrote the message following what he described as a failed suicide attempt less than a month before Epstein’s death in 2019.
According to Tartaglione, the note was discovered inside a book the morning after Epstein died. He later handed it to his legal team, who included it in court filings linked to his appeal.
The document had not previously appeared in official records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Several media organizations, including CBS News, reported that the authenticity of the note has not been independently verified. Requests for comment were reportedly sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Justice.
The handwritten message reportedly contains phrases including: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!! So 15 year old charges resulted.”
Other lines in the note include “time to say goodbye” and “No fun — not worth it!!”
Epstein’s death has remained the subject of intense public scrutiny and speculation since he was found dead inside a cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on Aug. 10, 2019. Authorities officially ruled the death a suicide.
Earlier that year, Epstein had been indicted by a federal grand jury on child sex trafficking charges. The case reignited attention surrounding his relationships with wealthy and influential figures across politics, business, and entertainment.
The newly released document also renewed focus on an incident that occurred on July 23, 2019, just weeks before Epstein’s death. At the time, Epstein claimed he had been assaulted by Tartaglione inside their shared jail cell. However, former US Attorney General Bill Barr later testified before Congress that authorities believed the incident was likely an attempted suicide rather than an attack.
Epstein had previously pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to state charges related to soliciting prostitution involving minors after reaching a controversial plea agreement that led federal prosecutors to drop additional charges. He served 13 months in county jail and was required to register as a sex offender.
Public attention surrounding the Epstein case has intensified again in recent months after the Justice Department released millions of pages of investigative records, some detailing Epstein’s connections to prominent individuals around the world.