Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate has reportedly been cleared of any wrongdoing after the convicted pedophile was found semiconscious in his cell weeks before he died of an apparent suicide.
His cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, is a former police officer who is facing quadruple murder charges. On July 23, the disgraced 66-year-old former financier was found in a fetal position with marks on his neck.
The incident that preceded Epstein’s death was being investigated as a possible suicide attempt, an assault, or a plot by Epstein to be transferred to a different facility. But Tartaglione’s lawyer, Bruce Barket, and an official familiar with the case told NBC News that Tartaglione was cleared after an internal investigation.
Barket said that he received an email from Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Facility stating that his client would not be facing any criminal charges or internal discipline stemming from the July 23 incident.
After the discovery, Epstein was put on suicide watch, but was removed just days before his Aug. 10 death. Epstein had been facing sex trafficking charges in one of the most high-profile criminal cases in recent years.
“We’ve always maintained Nick did nothing wrong, and that’s clearly been borne out here by the jail itself,” Barket said.
The Justice Department and FBI are investigating Epstein’s alleged suicide, and a Wednesday report revealed that an autopsy found multiple bones in Epstein’s neck had been broken, including the hyoid bone, which can be broken during suicide but is more frequently damaged during cases of homicidal strangulation.
