Note that Jeffrey Epstein Former cellmate claims to have been found after financier’s first suspected suicide attempt in prison in 2019 It has been announced – Not because of the Ministry of Justice Release records Related to a sex offender, but as part of an unrelated case.
The government’s explanation: it never had the memo.
“The memo has not yet been authorized, and this is the first time the Justice Department has seen it as well,” the department said Thursday when asked why it was not part of the massive Epstein files.
Nicholas Tartaglione said he discovered the handwritten note in a book after the disgraced financier was found in their cell in a federal prison in Manhattan with a strip of a bed sheet around his neck. Epstein was then transferred to a different cell, where he was located a few weeks later Found deadAlone and suicidal.
Tartaglione, a former police officer facing murder charges, said he gave the memo to his lawyer to protect himself from any claim that he may have harmed Epstein while they were detained together. Epstein was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges at the time.
Since 2021, the memorandum has been in a vault in the federal court in New York. It somehow became part of the proceedings between Tartaglione and his lawyers regarding their representation in the murder case. Anything related to this dispute has been sealed from public view by the judge because it involves attorney-client privilege.
Tartaglione, a former New York suburban police officer turned drug dealer, Convicted In April 2023, a man was strangled to death and three other people were killed execution-style. He said he discovered the note in a book he was reading in his prison cell.
The New York Times petitioned US District Judge Kenneth Karras to issue the memo, noting that Tartaglione, who is now serving a life sentence, had spoken about it publicly. The judge granted the request on Wednesday, adding that Epstein’s privacy interests in the memo were “substantially diminished” by his death.
“They investigated me for a month, and found nothing!!!” The short note said, which is difficult to decipher in places and has not been verified. “It’s a joy to be able to choose” when to say goodbye, the note continues. “Wacha want me to do – go out crying!!
“No fun. Not worth it!!” The note ends.
According to prison records, Epstein had chafing marks and skin irritation on his neck resulting from a suspected suicide attempt on July 23, 2019. Prison officers said he was breathing heavily but was responsive. Epstein told a guard that Tartaglione attacked him, but later backed down.
Prison officials then placed Epstein on suicide watch for 31 hours before downgrading him to psychiatric observation, the status he was in when he was detained. He killed himself On August 10, 2019.
The Ministry of Justice did not object to the publication of the memorandum. Deputy US Attorney Sean Buckley told the judge that the public was interested in the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.
Buckley also said that while two Justice Department lawyers were included in the proceedings between Tartaglione and his attorneys in 2021, the judge barred them from revealing anything from those hearings to protect attorney-client privilege. So, if they saw the note, they weren’t allowed to tell anyone about it.