A federal judge in New York has unsealed a handwritten document that prosecutors say may be a suicide note left by Jeffrey Epstein weeks before his death in a Manhattan jail. The New York Times obtained the paper after its legal team successfully petitioned for release, citing intense congressional demand for transparency in the sex‑trafficking case. Millions of readers have now seen the note.

Reporters Benjamin Weiser, Steve Eder and Jan Ransom traced the paper to Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, who claimed he found the note tucked inside a graphic novel. Tartaglione relayed the text to his lawyers, who later handed it to attorney John Wieder. The note repeats the phrase “NO FUN,” also found on a separate page discovered after Epstein’s death.

Handwriting experts noted similarities between this scrap and another “no fun” sheet recovered from Epstein’s cell, but they stopped short of a definitive forensic match. Tartaglione’s defense team said their informal comparison satisfied them that Epstein authored the paper. With the document public, investigators and investors alike can gauge how lingering legal exposure may affect settlements tied to the estate.