Ex-NYS judge, prosecutor apparently kills himself as FBI arrives to arrest him on corruption charges: report
Retired Orange County judge and former prosecutor Stewart Rosenwasser allegedly took his own life as federal agents prepared to arrest him for bribery and corruption.
nypost.com
Ex-NYS judge, prosecutor apparently kills himself as FBI arrives to arrest him on corruption charges: report
By
Joe Marino,
Reuven Fenton and
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
Published Sep. 24, 2024, 3:22 p.m. ET
A retired upstate New York county judge and former prosecutor allegedly shot himself to death Tuesday morning as FBI agents moved in to arrest him on corruption charges, according to reports.
Stewart Rosenwasser, who has been embroiled in a sordid federal bribery scandal, allegedly opened fire on the agents as they approached his Orange County home before his death by apparent suicide shortly after 9:30 am, the Albany Times-Union reported Tuesday.
Sources told The Post that an indictment naming Rosenwasser was handed down this week.
The FBI said in a statement that the agency is reviewing the incident at the Campbell Hall home, noting that it is being investigated by the Inspection Division, as is typically the case in agent-involved shootings.
Stewart Rosenwasser, a retired county judge and former prosecutor in upstate New York, allegedly took his own life Tuesday as FBI agents arrived at his house to arrest him on bribery charges. Orange county DA
“As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide,” the statement said.
Rosenwasser was accused of pocketing $63,000 in bribes from Mout’z Soudani, who was the victim in an embezzlement case he prosecuted in 2022, the outlet said.
The feds allege Rosenwasser accepted the bribes to investigate and prosecute two relatives of Soudani who were involved in the $1.9 million embezzlement case — and later pleaded guilty to grand larceny.
The two — nephew Martin Soudani and his sister Eman Soudani — filed a $22.5 million lawsuit to have the convictions overturned, claiming the case was tainted by the bribes.
In court filings in the lawsuit reviewed by the Times-Union, the alleged bribery scheme “may present the most blatant example of prosecutorial corruption and fraud in the annals of New York case law.”
The scandal, which saw the feds raid his home in July, forced him to resign from the DA’s Office.
The federal indictment, which names Rosenwasser and Mout’z Soudani, charges the two men with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, according to the Times-Union.
FBI agents arriving at Rosenwasser’s home on Route 416 reported that he was barricaded and that shots were fired, and requested a SWAT team from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Rosenwasser was later found dead.
