A judge and former prosecutor from Orange County, New York, is reported to have killed himself on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 24, right as FBI agents pulled up to his house to arrest him in connection to allegations of corruption.
Agents walked up to Stewart Rosenwasser’s house on Tuesday, and Rosenwasser, who is retired, opened fire on the agents before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.
Charges pending against Rosenwasser may have provided the motivation. The former judge was recently indicted for allegedly taking a $63,000 bribe from the victim in an embezzlement case that Rosenwasser prosecuted (he was also a prosecutor) in 2022. In a statement, the FBI said it was investigating an “agent involved shooting” that took place at the Campbell Hall retirement village in New York. That was where Rosenwasser made his home.
Details are not fully available, but it appears that FBI agents and Rosenwasser may have exchanged fire before the judge killed himself. The FBI’s use of the term “agent-involved shooting” could mean several different things, including an exchange of gunfire.
Some sources say that one of the FBI agents fired a shot and that Rosenwasser shot back, then barricaded himself in his home before taking his own life.
The indictment against Rosenwasser stemmed from a 2022 case he was working on for the District Attorney’s office. He faced charges of bribery, wire fraud, extortion under color of official right, making false statements, and more.
Rosenwasser was alleged to have taken bribes and to have acted in a corrupt manner while working on a case for an old friend. That friend, millionaire Mout’z Soudani had claimed that a family member stole money from him. The indictment accused Rosenwasser of conspiring with the plaintiff to make a case against other members of the Soudani family and recover the allegedly stolen money.
