A retired New York judge, who was also a former prosecutor, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday morning following a brief shootout with FBI agents trying to arrest him for bribery and corruption.
Sources told the New York Post that Stewart Rosenwasser, 72, was the subject of an FBI investigation into bribery and corruption, and allegedly opened fire on federal agents when they approached his home in Orange County, New York. Sources told ABC 7 that Rosenwasser pointed a gun at a federal agent, who then fired a shot.
Shortly after the shooting, Rosenwasser barricaded himself inside the home and allegedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 9:30 a.m., according to the Post’s law enforcement sources.
The FBI released a statement following the incident, saying the matter is under review.
“The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting that occurred [Tuesday] morning in Campbell Hall, NY,” the statement said, according to ABC 7. “The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division. As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide.”
Rossenwasser had been indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery charges, alleging that he had launched an investigation as a prosecutor in 2022 to help a longtime associate. That associate, Mout’z Soudani, had accused his sister and nephew of stealing about $2 million.
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Rossenwasser allegedly pocketed $63,000 to rig the case against the nephew, the Post reported.
“Any progress iam [sic] anxious thanks,” Soudani, who was also named in the indictment, texted Rosenwasser on November 18, 2022, according to the 43-page indictment obtained by the Post.
“Waiting to talk to investigator,” Rosenwasser allegedly replied. “Should know something today.”
“Believe me. I’m putting maximum effort into this,” Rosenwasser also allegedly said. “We will utilize all available assets.”
On March 8, 2023, Rosenwasser charged Soudani’s family members with grand larceny for allegedly stealing the money. Arrest warrants were issued, and when the family members appeared in court, they asked Rosenwasser to recuse himself because of his previous representation of Soudani in the 1990s.
Rosenwasser denied their request.
In June 2023, however, the District Attorney’s office removed Rosenwasser from the case. By March 2024, the case against Soudani’s sister was dropped and the nephew pleaded guilty to grand larceny in exchanged for a reduced sentence, the Post reported.
The sister and nephew later filed a $22.5 million lawsuit claiming the case against them was tainted due to Rosenwasser’s involvement. The scandal exploded in July when the FBI raided Rosenwasser’s home. Rosenwasser was also forced to resign from the District Attorney’s office at that time.
Rosenwasser’s son, Jason, seemed to throw water on reports that his father committed suicide.
“The only thing I feel compelled to point out is that the local news headlines are reporting that my father fatally shot himself while also reporting in the same article that the FBI field office issued a statement calling it an agent-involved shooting,” he told the outlet.
