A federal judge in New York has mandated the release of the purported suicide note penned by Jeffrey Epstein for his former cellmate. The deceased convicted sex trafficker mentioned previous investigations and voiced his frustration.
The New York Times obtained access to the note following a request to unseal the document it was contained in. The federal judge determined that the note, which had been sealed as part of Epstein’s former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione’s case—where he was found guilty of multiple murders—should be made public.
U.S. District Judge Kennet Karas concluded that there was no valid reason to keep it sealed. The note was reportedly found by Epstein’s cellmate after the billionaire’s suicide attempt in 2019. However, the court did not approve the NY Times’ request for further documents.
According to Fox News, the document was characterized in court filings as a “suicide note allegedly written by Jeffrey Epstein.” Tartaglione supposedly retrieved the note while they were briefly cellmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, New York.
Tartaglione’s lawyers had presented the document during court proceedings. It had remained sealed for several years.
Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note has been released.
Karas stated that the note met the criteria of a judicial document, which is generally presumed to be accessible to the public.
“The public has a strong presumptive right of access to certain judicial documents, established by the First Amendment, as well as a weaker presumptive right to all judicial documents, established at common law,” the ruling indicated, according to Fox.
“The common law right of public access to judicial documents is one ‘firmly rooted in our nation’s history’ that provides ‘a measure of accountability’ for federal courts and safeguards the public’s ‘confidence in the administration of justice.’
Additionally, the court determined that Tartaglione forfeited the attorney-client privilege by openly talking about the contents of the note, including during interviews.
Epstein’s handwritten note seemed to allude to previous investigations. At the same time, he conveyed his annoyance, stating, “They investigated me for months – found nothing!!!” He also remarked, “Time to say goodbye,” although some sections of the note were hard to decipher.
