Jeffrey Epstein's prison cellmate revealed a shocking claim and said he believed that the Trump administration wanted the late financier and convicted child sex offender dead.
In a pardon petition in 2025 obtained by The Daily Beast, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former law enforcement officer who was facing charges for four murders over a drug deal gone bad, said he believed Epstein was left unprotected "on purpose" behind bars and claimed Epstein was "deliberately exposed to violence in the hope that he would not survive long enough to stand trial."
It's unclear why Epstein was moved into the same cell as Tartaglione, something that has never been explained, The Beast reported. Tartaglione claimed this was done with a goal in mind.
“It is no coincidence that prior to trial I was transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and deliberately placed in the same cell as Jeffrey Epstein,” Tartaglione wrote.
Tartaglione described how prosecutor Maureen Comey knew about the "bloody and violent nature of his crime," according to The Beast. Comey was also the lead prosecutor in Epstein's case.
He also said that there have been several attempts on his own life following his ties to the Epstein saga.
“I clearly was not protected on purpose, nor was Epstein. I truly believe that the government wanted both Epstein and me dead,” Tartaglione wrote.
Tartaglione has repeatedly denied that he tried to kill Epstein. Epstein reportedly had concerns about his safety around his cellmate; however, he was also worried about retaliation, according to previous reports.
"Tartaglione had a reputation for extreme violence and a self-confessed hatred of child sex offenders. Tartaglione—who Epstein told prison guards had tried to kill him three weeks before he was found dead—claims 'it is no coincidence' that he was 'deliberately' moved into the same jail as Epstein and 'placed in the same cell' as the convicted child sex offender," The Beast reported.
Several people in Epstein's own inner circle have long believed that he did not take his own life, including his brother Mark Epstein, co-conspirator and longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, his former butler and legal team.