He then returned to Istanbul and began a business importing perfumes.[28] On 5 November 1918, a little less than a week after Ottoman capitulation to the Allies, Reshid was arrested and sent to Bekirağa prison in Constantinople. His role in the massacres was exposed in the Constantinople press, though he would go on to deny his actions and of ever having committed a crime. He was able to escape from the prison in January 1919, but when government authorities cornered him he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.[29]