Mark Epstein Says Suicide Note is a Forgery

The Jeffrey Epstein case just took another bizarre turn. This week, a judge unsealed a suicide note that former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione claims he found tucked inside a graphic novel back in July 2019—about a month before Epstein’s death in custody. The note includes a reference to“The Little Rascals”with the line“Watcha want me to do—Bust out cryin!!”But now Epstein’s brother Mark is calling the whole thing a forgery, and his argument is worth unpacking.

Here’s where it gets interesting: that same“Bust out cryin!!”phrase actually appears in emails Jeffrey sent to Mark and others. So either the note is genuine and proves Epstein was a fan of that particular reference, or—according to Mark—it proves that someone with access to those emails crafted a convincing fake. Mark’s contention is straightforward: a forger could easily have stolen from the“elusive Epstein Files”to mimic his brother’s voice.

But there’s a wrinkle. Court documents show the note was sealed all the way back in 2021, well before those files became public knowledge. That timeline complicates Mark’s theory about where the forger got their source material.

Mark Epstein has been consistent on one point: he doesn’t believe his brother died by suicide at all. He’s argued Jeffrey wouldn’t have left a note if he’d planned to take his own life, and he maintains his brother was murdered. He’s also skeptical that Tartaglione actually found this note in the first place.

For what it’s worth, Tartaglione’s attorney Bruce Barket pushes back hard. He insists Jeffrey did write the note and that his client had nothing to do with Epstein’s death. It’s a he-said-he-said that hinges on document authentication—and those rarely settle anything definitively in the court of public opinion. What we’re left with is a family at odds with evidence, a cellmate with a story, and a note that may or may not be what it claims to be.

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