A Manhattan federal judge unsealed a handwritten note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein, a document kept from investigators for seven years inside a co-defendant's sealed case file.
A federal judge in Manhattan unsealed a handwritten note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein, revealing a document that had been concealed from federal investigators for nearly seven years [1]. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas of the Southern District of New York ordered the release on May 6, finding no legal basis to keep the note from public view and holding that it constituted a judicial record subject to a presumptive right of access [2]. The note is undated and unverified, and its authenticity has not been established by any court or investigative body [3].
The note surfaced in the context of the pending federal murder case against Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer who shared a cell with Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York [1]. Tartaglione reportedly discovered the note during or after Epstein's first suicide attempt in July 2019, weeks before Epstein died in his cell on Aug. 10, 2019 [2]. The note was sealed as part of the Tartaglione case proceedings and never transmitted to investigators examining Epstein's death [3]. The New York Times petitioned for its unsealing after Tartaglione described the note publicly on a podcast, prompting Judge Karas to evaluate whether continued sealing served any legitimate judicial purpose [1]. Karas concluded it did not [2].
The development carries significance on two distinct levels. First, the seven-year gap between the note's discovery and its disclosure to the public raises direct questions about the completeness of the federal investigation into Epstein's death, including whether investigators had access to all relevant materials [2]. Second, the ruling illustrates the reach of press-access motions under the common-law right of access and the First Amendment in active criminal proceedings, where courts retain discretion to seal records but must articulate specific, substantial reasons to do so [1]. Karas found no such reasons here [3].
Tartaglione's underlying murder case, in which he faces charges in connection with the deaths of four men in an alleged drug conspiracy, remains pending in the Southern District of New York [3]. The unsealing order does not affect those proceedings directly. Questions regarding the note's authenticity and chain of custody are unresolved, and no party has formally authenticated the document in court [1]. Whether federal authorities re-examine the Epstein death investigation in light of the disclosure remains an open question [2].