Jay Clayton Backs Release of Epstein Note in White Plains
Federal prosecutors on Monday backed release of an epstein note tied to sealed proceedings involving Nicholas Tartaglione, telling a judge in White Plains, New York, that the item no longer needs to stay hidden. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said the government sees no remaining compelling interest in keeping it sealed, putting the decision in Judge Kenneth Karas’s hands.
Clayton’s Monday Filing
Clayton wrote that if Tartaglione had publicly discussed matters in the Curcio proceedings, those statements amounted to a waiver of continued sealing for what he disclosed. His letter aligned prosecutors with, which asked the court to unseal the purported note.
The filing turns on a narrow procedural question, not on a new criminal charge. The note remains sealed inside a case involving Tartaglione, Epstein’s one-time cellmate, and the judge must decide whether Tartaglione’s public comments opened the door to release.
Tartaglione’s Podcast Account
Tartaglione told he found the note tucked inside a book after Epstein’s unsuccessful suicide attempt in July 2019. Last year, he first described it on a podcast and said: “It said something like 'FBI, you know, looked into me for months and found nothing.' Then he wrote, 'What do you want me to do? Cry about it?' And he was weird because he wrote a smiley face, and then he wrote 'time to say goodbye,'”
A two-page Justice Department chart added another detail, saying, “Sometime between 7/23 and 7/27, NT found the note,” and that Tartaglione’s lawyer, Bruce Barket, authenticated it in January 2020. That chart places the note inside the same sealed record now before Karas.
Epstein’s July 2019 Cell Check
Epstein was found in his cell on July 23, 2019, with a homemade noose around his neck. A Bureau of Prisons incident report said he was lying in the fetal position on the floor, wearing a T-shirt and boxers, breathing heavily and snoring, with his neck red and no abrasions.
The report said he later had a circular line of erythema at the base of the neck and friction marks on the front of the neck. Epstein died in jail in August 2019 before prosecutors could put him on trial for sex trafficking minors. He had earlier alleged Tartaglione tried to kill him, then later said he could not recall what happened; Tartaglione denied trying to harm him.
Karas now has a limited question to answer: whether the public gets to see a document already described by Tartaglione and referenced in Justice Department records. If he lifts the seal, another piece of the Epstein jail record enters the public file; if he does not, the note stays inside the closed criminal proceedings.
