Jeffrey Epstein’s onetime cellmate has alleged that federal prosecutors offered Epstein a deal to implicate President Donald Trump in his 2019 criminal case in exchange for his freedom.

The claim surfaced in a newly revealed pardon application filed by Nicholas Tartaglione, a former New York police officer who shared a cell with Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan before Epstein’s death.

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Epstein, a financier charged with federal child sex-trafficking crimes, was arrested in July 2019 and housed in the MCC while awaiting trial.

Tartaglione, who was in custody at the same facility while awaiting trial on murder charges, later told investigators that Epstein had disclosed details of conversations he allegedly had with federal prosecutors.

According to documents obtained by the New York Post, Tartaglione claimed that prosecutors “told Epstein that if he said President Trump was involved with Epstein’s crimes he would walk free.”

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The filing continued: “Epstein told me that [lead prosecutor] Maurene Comey said that he didn’t have to prove anything, as long as President Trump’s people could not disprove it. According to Maurene Comey, the FBI were ‘her people, not his [President Trump’s].’”

Tartaglione also wrote that Epstein maintained Trump was not involved in any of his criminal activity.

“President Trump was not involved in Epstein’s crimes,” the former police officer quoted Epstein as saying.

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Epstein was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019, one month after his arrest. His death was ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner.

The Department of Justice and the FBI later concluded that Epstein had taken his own life and that no evidence existed of a so-called “client list” or blackmail operation involving high-profile individuals.

In July 2024, a DOJ memorandum summarizing the findings of the investigation was made public.

Days after the release of the report, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey — daughter of former FBI Director James Comey — was removed from her position with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Tartaglione, 56, had been awaiting trial at the time of Epstein’s death. He was convicted in 2024 for the 2016 killings of four men in Chester, New York, related to a failed cocaine deal.

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Prosecutors said Tartaglione, a former K9 officer in Westchester County, kidnapped and murdered the victims before burying their bodies on his property.

In his pardon request, Tartaglione alleged that his own prosecution was flawed and claimed that law enforcement investigators tampered with evidence to secure a conviction.

He also asserted that a former employee, Marcos Cruz, confessed to arranging the murders on behalf of a Mexican cartel but was persuaded by investigators to change his account.

Tartaglione’s petition, which includes his account of Epstein’s alleged statements about prosecutors, is now part of his broader request for clemency.

No additional evidence has been presented to verify his claims.

Epstein’s death continues to draw scrutiny and speculation more than five years later.

Multiple federal investigations into security lapses at the Manhattan detention center concluded that staff members failed to properly monitor Epstein’s cell the night he died.

Officials from the Department of Justice have not commented on Tartaglione’s filing. President Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case.

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