A former prosecutor and retired judge killed himself on Tuesday as the FBI arrived at his home in New York to arrest him.
Stewart Rosenwasser, 72, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a federal raid on his $430,000 home in Campbell Hall.
The shamed judge has been embroiled in a federal bribery scandal involving a previous case that he oversaw as a public prosecutor.
After authorities arrived at his address to arrest him on Tuesday morning, Rosenwasser allegedly opened fire on federal agents before taking his own life.
Federal prosecutors allege that Rosenwasser had been taking bribes worth $63,000 while working inside the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Stewart Rosenwasser died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an FBI raid on his home in Campbell Hall
Rosenwasser, seen here with his children and grandchildren, had been a former county court judge and acting New York state Supreme Court Justice
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that authorities had arrived at his home as part of an investigation into a corruption case
The bureau said: ‘The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting that occurred earlier this morning in Campbell Hall, NY. 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.’
According to an indictment unsealed just hours after his death, he had taken money from a Mout’z ‘Marty’ Soudani, who’s nephew Martin Soudani was last year jailed for stealing $1.9 million from his uncle.
Mout’z had accused both his sister, Eman, and his nephew of stealing the money from him October 2022.
Martin Soudani’s lawyers were seeking post-conviction relief by challenging the legality of the conviction and requesting the judgement be vacated
The charges against Eman were dropped, and Martin later pleaded guilty to taking $1.6 million from his uncle and served two months in behind bars.
The entire case against the two was prosecuted after Mout’z paid Rosenwasser to go after his own family, according to federal investigators.
According to the indictment, Rosenwasser had text Soudani after being paid $15,000: ‘I give my word at the end you will be extremely more than happy.’
After Eman and Martin were arrested in Colorado, Rosenwasser is alleged to have text Soudani saying: ‘I won’t text anymore. Anything you want to tell me, call me. That’s it. I will call you tomorrow. We must stop creating text messages. Period.’
Martin’s lawyers are seeking post-conviction relief by challenging the legality of the conviction and requesting the judgement be vacated.
They are also reportedly seeking to file a lawsuit against Rosenwasser, the County DA David Hoovler, the Chief Assistant DA and the DA’s office seeking $22.5 million for an alleged malicious prosecution.
Rosenwasser and Soudani were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and honest services wire fraud.
Rosenwasser was also charged with extortion and making false statements to the FBI after he was interviewed in June.
Three days after his interview he abruptly quit his job at the District Attorney’s Office where he had worked for five years.
Just hours after his death, the US District Court in the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment against Rosenwasser charging him in the bribery scheme
Rosenwasser had served as a judge for seven years from 1999 to 2006
Just hours after his death, the US District Court in the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment against Rosenwasser charging him in the bribery scheme
Prosecutors claim that Rosenwasser accepted a total of $63,000. He is seen here with his wife Debra
Rosenwasser had been a former county court judge and acting New York state Supreme Court Justice.
Orange County DA David Hoovler said: ‘It’s truly heartbreaking that it ended this way. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family.’
According to a biography, Rosenwasser had served as a judge for seven years from 1999 to 2006.
When he retired in 2006, he told the Times Herald-Record that one of the reasons he was standing down was because he wasn’t getting a raise on his six-figure salary.
The outlet had reported that he was also known as ‘Maximum Stew’, due to him cracking down on violent crime.
After last week’s revelations, News12 reported that the integrity of some of the cases he oversaw as assistant DA would be reviewed.
In November of last year he was awarded ‘Arson Prosecutor of the Year’ and had previously headed up the Orange County DA’s ‘Conviction Integrity Unit’.
His son Jason Rosenwasser had previously worked as the Chief Trial Assistant District Attorney in the Orange County DA’s Office. His daughter Rachel Rosenwasser is also an attorney.
