A New York judge has released a handwritten note allegedly written by the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The note was reportedly found in a graphic novel of Epstein’s cellmate in late July 2019, several weeks before Epstein was found dead in his cell.
The note is unsigned and has not been verified as Epstein’s. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ordered the note to be unsealed on Wednesday at the request of The New York Times.
The note said:
“They investigated me for month — FOUND NOTHING!!! So 10 year old charges results! It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! NO FUN. NOT WORTH IT!!”
The Epstein files refer cryptically to the note
Titled “Chronology,” one file released by the Justice Department documents “the note” from early July 2019 through January 2020.
Epstein was booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on July 6, 2019. His first cellmate was a man named Nicholas Tartaglione, who was a former police officer convicted of drug trafficking and the murder of four people.
On July 23, Epstein was found semiconscious, in a fetal position, with marks on his neck. Since the correctional center permanently deleted video of the incident due to “technical errors,” it is unknown whether Epstein staged it, someone attacked him or if the wounds were self-inflicted.
However, following the incident, Epstein and Tartaglione were removed from the cell, and a search was executed, the file reports. Epstein was placed on suicide watch for a week, then transferred to the Special Housing Unit with a new cellmate, Efrain Reyes, a former NYPD officer and convicted cocaine trafficker.
Epstein maintained that Tartaglione assaulted him on July 23, which Tartaglione’s lawyers have denied.
The note was allegedly found sometime between July 23-27, 2019.
On July 27, 2019, Tartaglione’s attorney, Bruce Barket, visited him in prison. Tartaglione told Barket that Epstein had left him a note in his comic book. Barket asked a guard if Tartaglione could go retrieve it and the guard said no, one of the DOJ’s files reported.
Barket told Tartaglione to give it to whichever lawyer visited him next.
On July 28 and 29, Barket attempted to authenticate the note, but investigators failed both times.
However on Jan. 5, 2020, the file reported, “BB (Barket) authenticated note.”
Epstein found dead in his cell on Aug. 10
Reyes, Epstein’s second cellmate, was transferred to the privately run Queens Detention Facility on Aug. 9, 2019, and Epstein was not assigned a new cellmate.
That night, after meeting with his lawyers, Epstein was allowed to make an unrecorded, unmonitored call. He told prison staff he was calling his mother but actually called “someone with whom he allegedly had a personal relationship,” the DOJ’s inspector general reported.
Other reports have identified the call recipient as Karyna Shuliak, Epstein’s then-girlfriend. The call lasted about 20 minutes.
At 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 10, a staff member discovered Epstein hanging from the side of his bunkbed.
The New York Times petitioned the court last Thursday to release the note.
Help is available: Reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) by dialing or texting 988.