New documents allege Epstein told jail staff his cellmate tried to kill him days before death

Newly released corrections officers memos and former Attorney General Bill Barr's closed-door testimony to Congress describe Jeffrey Epstein telling jail staff that his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, had tried to strangle him in his Metropolitan Correctional Center cell on July 23, 2019, about 18 days before Epstein's death in custody.

Epstein’s account, captured in the memos and interviews with officers who spoke with him, said Tartaglione had threatened him over Epstein's sex-trafficking charges and alleged connections to powerful people, and that Tartaglione had attempted to extort money or inflict harm if Epstein did not meet his demands. The documents suggest Epstein viewed the threat as real and persistent in the days leading up to the incident. The man known as Tartaglione, a 57-year-old former New York police officer, had already drawn attention from authorities for criminal activity and for his notoriety within the jail.

On the night of July 23, corrections officers said Tartaglione yelled that he had not attacked Epstein and claimed he had banged on his door to get Epstein out of the cell. The memo recounts Epstein waking up around 1 a.m. for a drink of water and the officers entering the cell to find Epstein leaning to the side with a bedsheet or fabric around his neck. Tartaglione later told staff he had moved his own mattress to the floor and that Epstein was seated or slumped on the floor when guards arrived. He also said he had provided Epstein the bottom bunk because Epstein was older and that he felt something hit his legs and prompted him to check on Epstein, according to the officers’ notes. The account adds that Tartaglione insisted he did not attack Epstein and that he had attempted to intervene or protect his cellmate after discovering Epstein in distress.

In Washington, Barr acknowledged knowledge of the July 23 incident but framed Epstein's death as a suicide attempt driven by Epstein’s state of mind. Barr told the House Oversight Committee that he treated the episode as reflective of Epstein’s mental state rather than an external removal of life support. The differing narratives among investigators, cast against the backdrop of Epstein’s death, fueled continued questions about how MCC handled the case and how seriously Epstein’s reported threats were taken in the days before he died.

CBS News, which reviewed the newly released memo, characterized the broader context as raising questions about whether Epstein’s claims of threats were adequately investigated and whether jail staff reported them consistently. The documents also show Epstein told corrections officers that Tartaglione had previously warned him that he would “beat him up” if he did not pay him, a line consistent with the broader pattern of Epstein’s claimed vulnerability in the MCC.

Epstein also reportedly told a jail officer that he did not want to report the threats immediately because he believed his child sex-trafficking charges would guarantee that the officers would not take action. A separate portion of the memo describes Epstein saying he would not have harmed himself and that he was not suicidal at the time, expressing positive plans and reasons to live. In a 2023 Department of Justice inspector general report, Epstein is described as insisting that he would never kill himself, a finding that has been cited in debates over the precautionary steps taken in the days leading up to his death.

Epstein’s safety was configured with a succession of cell changes in the days after the July 23 incident. He was placed with a new cellmate, Efrain Reyes, but Reyes was transferred out after nine days, leaving Epstein in an empty cell shortly before he was found unresponsive in August 2019. The August 10 death at MCC prompted long-running investigations and ongoing scrutiny of the facility’s protocols and the broader federal response to Epstein’s high-profile criminal case.

Nicholas Tartaglione, a hulking former Westchester County police officer, had been a police officer in New York before his later criminal career, which included charges tied to kidnappings and the murders of four men in 2016. He has denied Epstein’s allegations that he tried to kill him and said he had attempted to save Epstein’s life. The defense and prosecutors have separately weighed Tartaglione’s role and his connections to Epstein's network, but the latest documents emphasize Epstein’s perspective on the alleged assault and the apparent gaps in staff responses in the crucial weeks before Epstein’s death.

Taken together, the newly released materials deepen questions about the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s handling of Epstein and the extent to which prison authorities accurately documented threats and the subjective state of mind of a high-profile inmate facing serious charges. The records do not establish a definitive cause of death, but they illuminate competing narratives about the events of late July 2019 and the degree to which Epstein’s reported vulnerabilities were acknowledged and acted upon by MCC staff and federal officials.