NEW YORK, United States — A U.S. federal judge has released a purported suicide note allegedly written by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein weeks before his death in a New York jail in 2019, reopening public attention on the controversial circumstances surrounding the disgraced financier’s death.
The handwritten note, which had remained sealed for years as part of separate criminal proceedings involving Epstein’s former cellmate, was made public on Wednesday by Judge Kenneth Karas following a request by The New York Times.
According to court records, the letter was allegedly discovered hidden inside a graphic novel by Epstein’s cellmate after a failed suicide attempt in July 2019, several weeks before Epstein was later found dead in his Manhattan jail cell.
The note, written on lined paper, contains defiant and emotional statements.
“They investigated me for months — Found NOTHING!!!” the text reads.
“It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye,” the letter continues, before ending with the line: “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! No fun — NOT WORTH IT!!”
The authenticity of the document has not been independently verified by the court, and officials have not formally confirmed that Epstein authored the note.
Epstein, a wealthy financier with connections to influential political, business, and royal figures, was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls at the time of his death in August 2019.
The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging. However, the case has remained the subject of widespread public scrutiny and conspiracy theories due to multiple irregularities surrounding the incident.
Investigations revealed that surveillance cameras near Epstein’s jail cell malfunctioned or produced unusable footage, while guards assigned to monitor him reportedly failed to conduct required checks on the night of his death.
Epstein had previously been found injured in his jail cell in July 2019 in what authorities described as an apparent suicide attempt, leading to temporary suicide watch measures before he was later returned to the general prison population.
The latest release adds another layer to the enduring controversy surrounding the case, which continues to reverberate across American and British political circles because of Epstein’s extensive network of associates.
Over the past several years, court records, flight logs, and investigative documents linked to Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell have gradually been unsealed, fueling renewed scrutiny of high-profile individuals connected to the financier.
Maxwell is currently serving a prison sentence in the United States after being convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls.
The Epstein case remains one of the most politically sensitive and widely scrutinized criminal scandals in recent U.S. history, continuing to generate legal, political, and media attention nearly seven years after his death.
