The retired upstate judge and former prosecutor who allegedly took his own life in a shootout with the FBI was linked to a massive bribery scandal through canceled checks and text messages.
Stewart Rosenwasser, 72, Cashed dozens of checks and money orders The federal indictment in the case shows he took $63,000 in bribes from his wealthy co-defendants over a nearly two-year period in exchange for fabricating an embezzlement case while he was the top prosecutor at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Checks from co-defendant Mutz Soudani, including a $5,000 payment marked “loan,” were part of the paperwork that linked Rosenwasser to the scam — and were used early Tuesday when Rosenwasser opened fire on federal agents as they arrested him at his home and then apparently committed suicide.
“It is truly heartbreaking that it ended this way,” Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said in a statement Wednesday. “My heartfelt condolences are with the family.”
The U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the 43-page indictment unsealed Monday against Rosenwasser and Soudani says a lot about the case.
Soudani was arrested and arraigned on federal corruption charges Tuesday and has been released on bail, prosecutors said Wednesday — but it's the disgraced prosecutor who's making headlines.
The allegations sound like a spy novel, with the then-prosecutor and the former restaurateur meeting secretly in secluded locations, including a local eatery where Soudani allegedly handed over a $15,000 check in November 2022, according to the document.
The payments continued for several months, with Soudani allegedly paying his prosecutor friend so he could file embezzlement charges against Soudani's sister and nephew, whom he accused of stealing.
According to the indictment, Rosenwasser had known Soudani, the one-time millionaire restaurateur, for nearly 40 years and represented him in court in the 1990s.
He earned his degree from Albany Law School in 1977 and began his 47-year career in private practice until he joined the DA's office and was elected County Court judge in 1999.
He retired in 2006, but rejoined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office 13 years later as special counsel for policy, research and legislative development, after which he was put in charge of the office’s conviction integrity unit.
But federal prosecutors said that as late as October 2022, Rosenwasser was promising his old friend Soudani that he would put “maximum effort” into investigating and prosecuting his sister and nephew.
The indictment said the prosecutor kept true to his word and Soudani's nephew Martin and sister Iman would be arrested and charged with embezzling $1.6 million from Mootz Soudani.
“I will go to the grand jury as soon as I receive your certified bank records,” Rosenwasser allegedly messaged Soudani on Dec. 23, 2022. “I have arranged to audit all electronic transfers.”
Soudani responded, “I promise you at the end you will be very happy, God bless you, you are the only person who can do that. Please let me meet you for five minutes before I go to Colorado, wherever you are and say thank you.”
In March 2023, Martin and Iman Soudani were indicted on grand larceny and other charges, and the case against the two proceeded with them as the lead prosecutors.
In court the following month, Martin Soudani's lawyer asked Rosenwasser to recuse himself from the case, arguing that his “relationship with this family gives at least the appearance of a conflict.”
Rosenwasser claimed there was no conflict, and denied representing Mootz Soudani.
He allegedly wrote to the defense attorney, “As I told you during our first phone conversation, I do not recall a single instance when I served as personal attorney for Mount's Soudani and did not describe my relationship with the Soudani family as even social,” prosecutors said.
Federal authorities say that was a lie — and that Rosenwasser had by then taken $25,000 in bribes.
The payments kept coming, including 10 money orders, each worth $1,000, that Soudani allegedly purchased on May 10, 2023 — from which Rosenwasser deposited $3,000 five days later.
With heat growing inside the D.A.'s office, Rosenwasser was eventually removed from the embezzlement case in June 2023 — and the prosecution began to fall apart.
Eventually, the case against Iman Soudani was dismissed, while his son agreed to plead guilty to theft in exchange for a prison sentence of one to seven years.
Nevertheless, by the end of January 2024, Rosenwasser cashed a check for $15,000 from Mootz Soudani.
On June 18, Mautza Soudani confessed that Rosenwasser had instructed him to make payments “by money order and cash instead of checks so that the money could not be easily traced….”
Both men were indicted this week, with an outcome that was tragic for Rosenwasser.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino
