Retired US Judge Dies by Suicide at Home as FBI Arrives to Arrest Him on Corruption Charges

A retired New York judge and former prosecutor allegedly commits suicide Tuesday morning, September 24, in a shootout with FBI agents trying to bust him on bribery and corruption charges.

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 de@th by apparent suicide shortly after 9:30 am, law enforcement sources told The Post.

The FBI stated that it is reviewing the incident at the Campbell Hall residence, with the investigation being conducted by the Inspection Division, which is standard procedure in cases involving agent-involved shootings.

“As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide,” the statement said.

The gunfire exchange occurred just one day after a federal grand jury voted to indict Rosenwasser for allegedly accepting $63,000 in payoffs to manipulate a case for an associate claiming he had been embezzled by relatives.

The 43-page indictment details how Rosenwasser and millionaire businessman Mout’z Soudani conspired to fabricate a case against Soudani’s sister and nephew to recover the supposedly stolen funds.

“Any progress iam anxious thanks,” Soudani, who was also named in the indictment, reportedly texted Rosenwasser on November 18, 2022, according to the document.

“Waiting to talk to investigator,” the prosecutor allegedly replied. “Should know something today.”

“Believe me. I’m putting maximum effort into this,” he added, according to the document. “We will utilize all available assets.”

Federal prosecutors indicated that the two later attempted to conceal their illegal activities, with Rosenwasser allegedly texting his associate on January 23, 2023, “We must stop creating test [sic] messages. Period.”

The scheme targeted Martin Soudani and his mother, Eman Soudani, who were allegedly involved in embezzling $1.6 million from Mout’z Soudani, a wealthy former restaurateur, according to the indictment.

On March 8, 2023, Rosenwasser, then an assistant district attorney in Orange County, charged Soudani’s relatives with grand larceny for allegedly stealing the funds and had arrest warrants issued.

When they appeared in court, defense attorneys requested that Rosenwasser recuse himself from the case due to a potential conflict of interest, as he had represented Mout’z Soudani in the 1990s. Rosenwasser denied the claim and continued to prosecute the case.

However, by June 2023, the DA’s office began to take notice, and Rosenwasser was replaced on the case, according to the indictment.

By March 2024, the case against Soudani’s sister was dropped, and his nephew agreed to plead guilty to grand larceny in exchange for a prison sentence of one to seven years.

Martin and Eman Soudani subsequently filed a $22.5 million lawsuit, claiming the charges against them were tainted.

Court filings related to the lawsuit, reviewed by the Times-Union, suggested that the alleged bribery scheme “may present the most blatant example of prosecutorial corruption and fraud in the annals of New York case law.”

Meanwhile, Rosenwasser resigned from the DA’s office earlier this year as the investigation intensified, culminating in this week’s indictment.

In an email to The Post on Tuesday, Rosenwasser’s son, Jason, requested privacy for the family but expressed skepticism about reports suggesting 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 wrote.

The scandal, which led to federal agents raiding his home in July, ultimately forced Rosenwasser to resign from the DA’s Office.

The federal indictment, which names both Rosenwasser and Mout’z Soudani, charges them with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and honest services wire fraud, according to the Times-Union.

When FBI agents arrived at Rosenwasser’s home on Route 416, they reported that he was barricaded inside and shots were fired, prompting a request for a SWAT team from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Rosenwasser was later found dead.