Man who shared a cell with Epstein requests move to a different jail after ‘guards threatened him’

The former cellmate of Jeffrey Epstein has claimed prison guards have been threatening him to make him ‘shut up’ about speaking out over the circumstances surrounding the millionaire’s suicide, according to a new legal filing.

Ex cop-turned-felon Nicholas Tartaglione, 51, is now requesting to be transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center after allegedly being told to ‘shut up’ and ‘stop talking’ about how Epstein was able to commit suicide in federal custody.

Tartaglione briefly shared a cell with Epstein inside the detention center, during which time the accused sex trafficker allegedly attempted to suicide for the first time.

Suspicions had been rife that Tartaglione inflicted the injuries found on 66-year-old Epstein’s neck, after he was found unconscious on the floor of his cell on July 23.

The pair were then separated into different cells, long before Epstein killed himself on August 10.

Ex cop-turned-felon Nicholas Tartaglione, 51, is now requesting to be transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center after allegedly being told to ‘shut up’, ‘stop talking’ about how Epstein was able to commit suicide in federal custody

Ex cop-turned-felon Nicholas Tartaglione, 51, is now requesting to be transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center after allegedly being told to ‘shut up’, ‘stop talking’ about how Epstein was able to commit suicide in federal custody

Tartaglione briefly shared a cell with Epstein inside the detention center, during which time the accused sex trafficker allegedly attempted to suicide for the first time

Tartaglione briefly shared a cell with Epstein inside the detention center, during which time the accused sex trafficker allegedly attempted to suicide for the first time

‘The clear message Mr. Tartaglione has received is that if he conveys information about the facility or about [Epstein’s] recent suicide, there will be a price to pay,’ Tartaglione’s attorney Bruce Barket said in a letter to White Plains federal Judge Kenneth Karas.

‘Whether or not the investigators into the suicide chose to interview Mr. Tartaglione about the attempted suicide to which he was witness or about how the facility is run and the conditions under which the inmates are forced to live, the correction officers know he has information potentially very damaging to the very people now charged with guarding him or their coworkers.’

Tartaglione is currently facing the death penalty, with prosecutors accusing him of murdering four people in a drug deal gone wrong in upstate New York, back in 2016.

After his first suicide attempt, Epstein told his lawyers that the former police officer ‘roughed him up, and that’s why they got him off suicide watch’, Tartaglione’s attorney said.

Barket, however, fiercely denied the accusations, telling NBC News: ‘We’ve always maintained Nick did nothing wrong and that’s clearly been borne out here by the jail itself.’

He added that his client was cleared of any involvement the day before Epstein’s death and wouldn’t face charges or internal discipline.

‘The clear message Mr. Tartaglione has received is that if he conveys information about the facility or about [Epstein’s] recent suicide, there will be a price to pay,’ Tartaglione’s attorney Bruce Barket said in a letter to White Plains federal Judge Kenneth Karas

‘The clear message Mr. Tartaglione has received is that if he conveys information about the facility or about [Epstein’s] recent suicide, there will be a price to pay,’ Tartaglione’s attorney Bruce Barket said in a letter to White Plains federal Judge Kenneth Karas

After his first suicide attempt, Epstein told his lawyers that the former police officer 'roughed him up, and that's why they got him off suicide watch', his attorney said. Barket, however, fiercely denied the accusations, telling NBC News: ‘We've always maintained Nick did nothing wrong and that's clearly been borne out here by the jail itself'

Jeffrey Epstein

After his first suicide attempt, Epstein told his lawyers that the former police officer ‘roughed him up, and that’s why they got him off suicide watch’, his attorney said. Barket, however, fiercely denied the accusations, telling NBC News: ‘We’ve always maintained Nick did nothing wrong and that’s clearly been borne out here by the jail itself’

Barket’s letter also speaks of the prison’s ‘deplorable conditions’, including ‘serious rat infestation’, as one of several reasons requesting his client be moved, the NY Post reported.

Tartaglione is due to reappear in court on Wednesday as part of a scheduled hearing.

An investigation was launched into how Epstein could have had the opportunity to take his own life despite having been on suicide watch two weeks before his death.

It was later confirmed he was taken off suicide watch.

Epstein was moved to his own cell and was supposed be checked on every 30 minutes.

Tartaglione is currently facing the death penalty, with prosecutors accusing him of murdering four people in a drug deal gone wrong in upstate New York, back in 2016

Tartaglione is currently facing the death penalty, with prosecutors accusing him of murdering four people in a drug deal gone wrong in upstate New York, back in 2016

The warden at MCC, Lamine N’Diaye, has since been reassigned to a new prison.

In a letter officially notifying the court of Epstein’s death, N’Diaye confirmed the July incident would be referenced in the probe carried out by the FBI and the Justice Department Office of Inspector General.

‘One open question, among others, is whether the investigations referenced in your letter will include the incident at MCC involving Mr. Epstein on or about July 23, 2019,’ Judge Richard Berman wrote in and August 12 response. ‘To my knowledge, it has never been definitively explained what the BOP concluded about that incident.’

N’Diaye did not offer up what the conclusion was in his reply.

He wrote: ‘I can confirm that, although an internal investigation was completed regarding the July 23, 2019 incident, the current investigations by the FBI and OIG will include this incident as well. Accordingly, I cannot divulge any information about the prior investigation at this time.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk