Epstein Files keep note sealed seven years after death

The Epstein files do not include Jeffrey Epstein’s purported suicide note, and a federal judge has kept it sealed seven years after his 2019 death. The note was reportedly written on yellow legal paper and tucked into a book in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center.

According to a description later relayed by Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein wrote, “What do you want me to do, bust out crying?” Tartaglione said he found the note after Epstein was moved to a new cell.

Metropolitan Correctional Center note

The note was reportedly found inside a graphic novel left behind in Epstein’s cell. It also purportedly proclaimed his innocence, and it was verified as having been written by Epstein within a year, according to.

That sequence leaves a narrow but important record: a document tied to Epstein’s final months exists, yet the Department of Justice told its investigators had never seen it. The note has stayed under seal while the government’s Epstein files released this year moved forward without it.

July 2019 cell dispute

The note sits against the backdrop of a July 2019 incident in which jail staff found red marks on Epstein’s neck after he accused Tartaglione of trying to strangle him. Epstein was in a New York City federal lockup at the time, before his death later that year.

Tartaglione, Epstein’s former cellmate and a convicted killer, is seeking to clear his name in relation to four murders he was convicted of carrying out. His account of finding the note and describing its contents is now part of the sealed-paper trail that has stayed outside public release for seven years.

Justice Department release

For readers tracking the Epstein files, the practical point is simple: the newly released material did not include the note, and the seal remains in place. Until a judge changes that order, the paper described by Tartaglione and later verified as Epstein’s own writing stays out of public view.