It’s a yellow page. The handwriting is hurried. Strangely, some people now think it might be real because the words read more like a shrug than a confession or a farewell.
Judge Kenneth M. Karas of the Federal District Court in White Plains unsealed what is purported to be a suicide note that Jeffrey Epstein wrote in the summer of 2019, just weeks before he was discovered dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, earlier this month. Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer awaiting trial for quadruple murder, had the note in his file. Tartaglione claims that after Epstein was removed from their shared cell, he discovered it hidden inside a graphic novel. He gave it to his attorney, who discreetly used it as proof of his client’s good behavior. For nearly seven years, it remained sealed. The Times advocated for its publication. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi did the same. In the end, the judge concurred.
The information is brief and peculiar. “They investigated me for month[s] — found nothing!” writes Epstein or someone else. Afterwards: “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.” Later, almost casually: “What do you want me to do? I’m crying! Not enjoyable—not worth it.” “No fun” is highlighted. A different piece of yellow paper that was discovered in his cell after his death also had them underlined.
Something about that particular detail sticks in my mind. Two pieces of paper with identical odd underlining, similar paper, and similar phrasing. Tartaglione’s attorney, Bruce Barket, disregarded formal handwriting analysis. He claims that since only two people had access to the book and the other is deceased, he didn’t need to. In a 2016 email made public by the Justice Department, Epstein uses nearly the exact same line about crying in the same informal, half-joking tone. The cadence was mastered by whoever wrote it.
And yet. Belief in any of this necessitates faith in the organizations managing it, which is where the narrative becomes complex. Over the past year or so, the Justice Department under President Trump has engaged in an odd dance with the Epstein files, including slow releases, redactions, and the strange move of Ghislaine Maxwell to a more accommodating facility following her interview with Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney who is currently acting attorney general. According to reports, Maxwell informed him that she never witnessed Trump or Epstein acting inappropriately. Yoga and the puppies soon followed. It’s difficult to ignore the timing.
Within hours, online skeptics declared the note to be fraudulent. One Facebook commenter described it as a “get out of jail free card,” implying that it conveniently shores up the suicide ruling against the murder theories that have followed Epstein’s death since the morning he was discovered. Given the years of inconsistencies—broken cameras, sleeping guards, and a bone in his neck that pathologists claimed was more consistent with strangulation than hanging—that suspicion isn’t irrational. However, the note’s supporters draw attention to something more subdued: if it were a fake intended to appease the public, it would most likely make a greater effort. It would make a statement. This one hardly does.
Perhaps that’s the idea. Perhaps this is also the reason we might never be certain.