Patrick Fitzgerald

Patrick Fitzgerald
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
In office
October 21, 2001 – June 30, 2012
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Barack Obama
Preceded byScott Lassar
Succeeded byZachary T. Fardon
Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice
In office
December 30, 2003 – March 6, 2007
Appointed byJames Comey
Preceded byPosition not in use
Succeeded byPosition not in use
Personal details
Born (1960-12-22) December 22, 1960 (age 63)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyIndependent
SpouseJennifer Letzkus
Children2
EducationAmherst College (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born December 22, 1960) is an American lawyer and former partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.[1]

For more than a decade, until June 30, 2012, Fitzgerald was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.[2] Prior to his appointment, he served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1988 to 2001,[3] and as Chief of the Organized Crime-Terrorism Unit since December 1995, where he participated in the prosecutions of Osama bin Laden, Omar Abdel-Rahman, and Ramzi Yousef.

As special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel, Fitzgerald was the federal prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair, which led to the prosecution and conviction in 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice.[4][5]

As a federal prosecutor, he led a number of high-profile investigations, including those which led to convictions of Illinois Governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan, media mogul Conrad Black, several aides to Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley in the Hired Truck Program, and Chicago police detective and torturer Jon Burge.

  1. ^ "Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald Joins Skadden's Chicago Office". CBS News. Chicago. 22 October 2012.
  2. ^ "U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stepping down June 30". Chicago Tribune. 23 May 2012.
  3. ^ "Patrick Fitzgerald Partner, Litigation". Skadden. Chicago. 22 October 2012.
  4. ^ Savage, Charlie (31 December 2003). "Ashcroft Steps Aside in Probe Into CIA Leak". Boston Globe. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
  5. ^ "Why Did Attorney General Ashcroft Remove Himself From The Valerie Plame Wilson Leak Investigation?". findlaw.com. 6 January 2004. Retrieved 16 September 2006.