“It's time to say goodbye.” An alleged farewell note from Jeffrey Epstein, kept secret for nearly seven years in a New York court
An alleged farewell note written by Jeffrey Epstein before his death in prison was kept under seal for nearly seven years in a New York federal court, according to an investigation published by The New York Times.
The New York Times has officially filed a request to declassify the document. PHOTO: archive
The document, which is said to contain the message “It's time to say goodbye” it was never made public, and not even the US Department of Justice would have had access to it as part of their official investigations into the death of the controversial Jeffrey Epstein.
Discovered by his cellmate after a suicide attempt
The note was allegedly found in July 2019 by Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein's cellmate at the time, after he was discovered unconscious with a piece of cloth around his neck.
Epstein survived that incident, but was found dead in his cell a few weeks later, the death officially ruled a suicide by hanging.
Nicholas Tartaglione, a former American police officer sentenced to four life sentences for murder, said that he would have discovered the hidden message in a book in his cell.
“I opened the book to read and it was there,” he said in a telephone interview from a federal prison in California.
What would Epstein have written
Tartaglione claims the note contained references to federal investigations into Epstein and stated that authorities “they found nothing” following investigations.
The message would have continued with phrases such as: “What do you want me to do? Burst into tears? It's time to say goodbye.”
If the authenticity of the document is confirmed, it could provide important clues about Epstein's mental state in the weeks before his death.
The ticket, stuck in a legal dispute
According to court documents, Tartaglione allegedly gave the note to his lawyers, believing it could be useful in his defense after Epstein initially accused him of assaulting him in his cell.
Investigators later determined that Epstein told prison officials that he had no problems with his cellmate and that he felt safe in his presence.
The ticket was later turned over to federal court in White Plains, where it was sealed amid an internal dispute between Tartaglione's attorneys.
According to the American press, the document was stored in a safe of the court.
The New York Times is requesting declassification
On Thursday, April 30, The New York Times formally filed a request to declassify the document, arguing that it could be a key piece in clearing up one of the most controversial deaths in the US prison system.
The publication claims that the ticket does not appear in the millions of pages of documents about the Epstein case released by the Department of Justice.
A spokeswoman for the institution said that the agency “has not seen this document”.
