Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein's alleged suicide note

An alleged suicide note from disgraced, deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein has come to light and been published by The New York Times. The note reads: "They investigated for month—Found nothing!!! So 16 year old charge results. It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do—bust out crying!! NO FUN—not worth it."

Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2029 after he was arrested for sex trafficking. The note was recovered by former cell mate Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer who had been convicted of killing four people. Tartaglione had found the note, he said, in a graphic novel he and Epstein shared, and given it to his attorneys.

Since he gave it to his attorneys, the note had been sealed along with the files of Tartaglione's case in a White Plains court. Tartaglione was convicted in 2023 and it was at that time that he indicated there might be a note from Epstein among his files. 

Epstein, whose records have been under investigation in the years after his death, had previously tried to kill himself when he was housed with Tartaglione. Tartaglione had given it to his attorneys so as to show that he was not responsible for Epstein's death. Epstein died in jail in August 2019 and speculation about the manner of that death has been roiling ever since.
 

In a previous note Epstein wrote in jail, he said that he was being fed bad food and contending with "giant bugs." In that note he also penned the words "No fun!!" Epstein had told guards Tartaglione had tried to kill him and that earned him a transfer to his own cell. 

President Donald Trump signed a bill in November 2025 to release the Epstein files, but that process has been anything but clarifying. Millions of documents have been uncovered, from flight logs to pornography, but what everyone wanted—some kind of list showing his associates and what his relationship was with them—has not been forthcoming.

Women who have identified themselves as survivors have demanded more information be released, and in September 2025 they said they would compile a "list" of those who they "all know who were regularly in the Epstein world." 

"I would like to announce here today," said Lisa Phillips, "us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list. We know the names, many of us were abused by them. Now together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know who were regularly in the Epstein world, and it will be done by survivors, and for survivors, no one else is involved."

She later said "we’re reaching out to survivors that are scared to come forward and that also know who they were trafficked to. So that’s the list that we’re compiling."