Jeffrey Epstein claimed New York federal prosecutors informed him he may stroll free if he agreed to implicate Donald Trump, in line with his ex-cellmate.
After his arrest on baby sex-trafficking fees in July 2019, Epstein was transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Heart in Manhattan — the place he shared a cell with ex-cop Nicholas Tartaglione, who was awaiting trial earlier than being convicted on a quadruple-murder cost.
Tartaglione, 57, now claims that Epstein, who died a month after being arrested, informed him prosecutors had supplied to chop a deal if he’d snitch on President Trump, who was then in his first time period.
“Prosecutors … informed Epstein that if he mentioned President Trump was concerned with Esptein’s crimes he would stroll free. in a petition to be pardoned,” Tartaglione claims in a pardon utility filed in July and obtained by The Put up.
“Epstein informed me that [lead prosecutor] Maurene Comey mentioned that he didn’t need to show something, so long as President Trump’s folks couldn’t disprove it. In accordance with Maurene Comey, the FBI had been ‘her folks, not his [President Trump’s],’ ” the submitting states.
The papers don’t specify what crimes Trump would have been implicated in. On the time of his dying, Epstein was charged with intercourse trafficking and conspiracy, however was additionally suspected in a laundry checklist of different crimes — from monetary misdealing to cash laundering and blackmail.
Comey, who acted as lead prosecutor in Tartaglione’s case, was fired by the Justice Division in July. Makes an attempt to succeed in her for remark had been unsuccessful, whereas the Division of Justice didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Tartaglione added in his petition that Epstein informed him “President Trump was not concerned in Epstein’s crimes.”
The 2 males shared a bunk till Epstein’s first suicide try on July 23, 2019, when he was found in his cell with bruising on his neck. He was then positioned on suicide watch in a safe unit and given a unique cellmate when he returned.
Epstein was discovered lifeless alone in his cell on August 10 after having hung himself.
His dying was dominated a suicide, however lapses in safety and protocol on the correctional facility, and an absence of proof collected at the moment, have led to many questions.
A former K9 officer in Westchester, Tartaglione was convicted of killing 4 males after a 2016 cocaine deal went unsuitable and he believed a employee at his animal sanctuary had stolen $230,000.
The ex-cop claims in his pardon bid that the prosecution was flawed and that proof was manipulated by cops to border him for the murders.
In his petition, Tartaglione alleges a cell phone concerned with the case was tampered with so as to add his identify as a contact after it had been confiscated. He and his legal professionals declare video proof was “altered, spliced, mutilated and destroyed” to go well with the prosecution.
The pardon request claims the person who labored for Tartaglione, Marcos Cruz, confessed to organising the murders for a Mexican cartel, however was satisfied by an investigator to alter his story.
Tartaglione additionally claims the star witness at trial, Joseph Biggs — a bodybuilder and faculty safety guard — solely implicated him after assembly with prosecutors 30 occasions and repeatedly lied and fabricated info on the stand.
Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in 2024 for his position within the scheme, after admitting to pulling the set off of a gun which killed one of many males. He had been going through life, however his sentence was diminished on account of his cooperation.
Upon a jury discovering him responsible in 2024, the decide slammed Tartaglione, saying he cared extra about animals than the folks he killed, calling him delusional and racist and citing the overwhelming proof towards him, ABC 7 information reported.
Tartaglione claims there have been quite a few makes an attempt on his life since Epstein’s dying, leaving him injured and with a steel plate in his head.
