A former prosecutor and retired judge from New York died by suicide on Tuesday amid an exchange of gunfire with the FBI as agents arrived at his residence to arrest him in a federal corruption investigation. Stewart Rosenwasser had been indicted Monday on charges him of accepting bribery payments to initiate a criminal investigation while working for the Orange County District Attorney. When the FBI arrived Tuesday to arrest Rosenwasser at his home in rural Orange County, he reportedly died by suicide after agents may have shot at him. Rosenwasser reportedly pointed a gun at agents, at least one of whom fired a shot, sources familiar with the case told NBC New York. Rosenwasser then barricaded himself in his home, where he is suspected of taking his own life.
The reported gunfire exchange came one day after a federal grand jury indicted Rosenwasser on charges that include bribery, extortion, making false statements and wire fraud. Rosenwasser had reportedly resigned in June from the Orange County District Attorney's office, where he was chief counsel and executive assistant district attorney. Rosenwasser was accused in a federal indictment of accepting at least $63,000 in bribe payments to leverage his position in the district attorney's office to investigate two people. The request is alleged to have come from a millionaire former restaurant owner to whom Rosenwasser would also provide updates on the investigation, according to the federal indictment. He is accused of receiving the bribes largely in the form of checks or money orders starting in 2022.
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