On May 6, 2026, federal judge Kenneth Karas granted a request from The New York Times to unseal a document that had long been hidden from the public.
According to Reuters, the note, written on a yellow legal pad, was presented by the lawyers of Nicholas Tartaglione - Epstein's former cellmate, who is serving four life sentences for murders related to drug trafficking.
According to the case materials, the text of the note contains reflections on voluntary departure from life. "It is a pleasure to be able to choose the time for farewell myself," the document states. The author of the note also expresses outrage at the resumption of criminal prosecution: "They investigated me for a month - and found nothing!!! In the end, accusations from 15 years ago surfaced." At the end of the text, it is added: "What do you want me to do - cry!! THERE IS NO JOY - IT IS NOT WORTH IT!!".
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell in August 2019. At that time, he had been charged with sex trafficking.
The official investigation ruled the cause of death as suicide. The note in question was allegedly discovered by Tartaglione hidden in a book in their shared cell back in July 2019, when Epstein's first suicide attempt was recorded.
Judge Karas emphasized that the note is a court document subject to public access, as it was included in the materials of Tartaglione's criminal case. However, the court did not provide official conclusions regarding the authenticity of the handwriting or the history of the document's transmission.
According to The Guardian, this note had not previously appeared in reports by federal investigators and was absent from the millions of pages of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Epstein case. The decision to open access was made due to the lack of compelling reasons to maintain confidentiality and the high public interest in the circumstances surrounding the financier's death.
