Patrick Fitzgerald

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This article is about the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. For the British singer-songwriter, see Patrik Fitzgerald. For the Northwestern University football head coach, see Pat Fitzgerald.
Patrick Fitzgerald

Patrick Fitzgerald, Official DOJ Portrait
Born December 22, 1960 (1960-12-22) (age 48)
Brooklyn, New York
Died N/A
N/A
Residence Classified
Nationality Irish-American
Ethnicity Caucasian
Citizenship United States
Alma mater Amherst College (B.A.), Harvard Law School (JD)
Occupation United States Attorneyfor the Northern District of Illinois
Employer United States Department of Justice
Home town Midwood-Flatbush , Brooklyn, New York
Salary N/A
Net worth N/A
Height Classified
Weight Classified
Known for The case of former Ill. Gov. George H. Ryan
Title Attorney
Term N/A
Predecessor N/A
Successor N/A
Political party N/A
Opponent(s) N/A
Board member of N/A
Religious beliefs Roman Catholic
Spouse(s) Jennifer Letzkus
Relatives Married
Call-sign N/A
Signature
Website
N/A
Notes
N/A

Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born December 22, 1960) is the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He was the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair, which led to the prosecution and conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby.[1][2] He has been involved in a number of other high-profile cases, pursuing Illinois Governor George Ryan, media mogul Conrad Black, several aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in the Hired Truck Program, and Chicago torture detective Jon Burge. His office is currently investigating an alleged conspiracy to sell Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. This led to the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on December 9, 2008.

Contents

[edit] Personal

Fitzgerald was born into an Irish-American Catholic family in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, growing up in the Midwood-Flatbush neighborhood. His father (also Patrick Fitzgerald) worked as a doorman in Manhattan.

Fitzgerald attended Our Lady of Help Christian's grammar school, Regis High School, a prestigious Jesuit Catholic school in Manhattan, and received degrees in economics and mathematics from Amherst College before receiving his JD from Harvard Law School in 1985.[3] While at Harvard, Fitzgerald was a member of the Harvard Business School Rugby Club.

Fitzgerald married Jennifer Letzkus in June, 2008.[4][5] It is his first marriage and her second; Letzkus was married from 2001 to 2004 to Cisco executive Jeremy Crisup.

[edit] Career

[edit] New York

After practicing civil law, Fitzgerald became an Assistant United States Attorney in New York City in 1988. He handled drug-trafficking cases and in 1993 assisted in the prosecution of Mafia figure John Gambino, a boss of the Gambino crime family.[6] In 1994, Fitzgerald became the prosecutor in the case against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others charged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[7]

In 1996, Fitzgerald became the National Security Coordinator for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There, he served on a team of prosecutors investigating Osama bin Laden.[8] He also served as chief counsel in prosecutions related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

[edit] Illinois

On September 1, 2001, Fitzgerald was nominated for the position of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on the recommendation of U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald (no relation), a Republican from Illinois. On October 24, 2001, the nomination was confirmed by the Senate. The Senator had urged the selection precisely because Patrick was not from Chicago (Patrick said that he had visited Chicago only one day -- for a wedding in 1982 -- before being selected).[9]

Soon after becoming U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, Fitzgerald began an investigation of political appointees of Republican Illinois Governor George Ryan, who were suspected of accepting bribes to give licenses to unqualified truck drivers. Fitzgerald soon expanded this investigation, uncovering a network of political bribery and gift-giving, and leading to more than 60 indictments. Ryan was indicted in December 2003. At the conclusion of the trial, in April 2006, Ryan was found guilty on all eighteen counts against him. Ryan's co-defendant, Chicago businessman Larry Warner, 67, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, attempted extortion, and money laundering. The two were sentenced on September 6, 2006: Ryan received a sentence of six and one half years, and Warner received a sentence of three years, five months.[10]

Against criticism that these cases were based on circumstantial evidence, Fitzgerald responded: "People now know that if you're part of a corrupt conduct, where one hand is taking care of the other and contracts are going to people, you don't have to say the word 'bribe' out loud.... And I think people need to understand we won't be afraid to take strong circumstantial cases into court."[11]

On July 18, 2005, Fitzgerald's office indicted a number of top aides to Democrat Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago, on charges of mail fraud, alleging numerous instances of corruption in hiring practices at City Hall.[12] An investigation announced on December 30, 2005 stated that it intended review contracts between the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and vendors who signed leases to occupy the remodeled Illinois Tollway oasis. Fitzgerald's office investigated possible conflicts of interest between these vendors and one of Blagojevich's top fundraisers, Antoin Rezko.

In March 2006, former Chicago City Clerk James Laski pled guilty to pocketing nearly $50,000 in bribes for steering city business to two trucking companies. Thus far Laski is the highest-ranking Chicago official and Daley administration employee brought down by Fitzgerald's office in conjunction with the Hired Truck Program scandal.

On December 9, 2008, federal agents arrested Governor Blagojevich for conspiring to profit from his authority to appoint President Barack Obama's successor to the U.S. Senate. Fitzgerald said Blagojevich "put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States Senator."[13]

U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald chose not to run for reelection in 2004, leaving Patrick Fitzgerald without a congressional patron. In the summer of 2005, there were rumors that he would not be reappointed to a second four-year term in retaliation for his investigations into corruption in Illinois and Chicago government, as well as for his investigation of the Plame scandal.[14] Those "rumors" were not realized; Fitzgerald is now completing his seventh year as U.S. Attorney.

President Barack Obama has since pledged to keep Fitzgerald on as a U.S. attorney.[15]

[edit] Notable cases

[edit] Plame investigation

See also: Plame affair

On December 30, 2003, after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the CIA leak grand jury investigation of the Plame affair due to conflicts of interest, Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, acting as Attorney General in Ashcroft's place, appointed Fitzgerald to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel in charge of the investigation.[1][2]

On December 30, 2003, three months after the start of the Plame investigation, Fitzgerald was appointed Special Counsel (under Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600). Through this, Fitzgerald was delegated "all the authority of the Attorney General" in the matter. In February 2004, Acting Attorney General Comey clarified the delegated authority and stated that Fitzgerald has plenary authority. Comey also wrote "further, my conferral on you of the title of 'Special Counsel' in this matter should not be misunderstood to suggest that your position and authorities are defined and limited by 28 CFR Part 600."[16]

On October 28, 2005, Fitzgerald brought an indictment for 5 counts of false statements, perjury, and obstruction of justice against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. Libby resigned to prepare for his legal defense. Fitzgerald indicated that the leak investigation was not over but refused to comment on any specific suspects.

In his first press conference after announcing Libby's indictment, Fitzgerald was asked about comments by Republicans such as Kay Bailey Hutchison, who said "I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality..." Fitzgerald responded, "That talking point won't fly... The truth is the engine of our judicial system. If you compromise the truth, the whole process is lost . . . if we were to walk away from this, we might as well hand in our jobs."[17]

By March 28, 2006, some bloggers were reporting that on the basis of interviews with people close to the Plame investigation, indictments against Rove or National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were imminent. However, by mid-June 2006, it was announced that no charges were going to be brought against Rove. In early April, The New York Times ran a front page story linking Libby to a leak, supposedly ordered by Dick Cheney, that Iraq had been attempting to acquire uranium in 2002. By the thirteenth of the month, many media outlets, including the New York Times, retracted this story, after discovering that the basis of this claim was based on papers filed with the courts the previous week. These papers themselves were corrected via formal statements from Fitzgerald.

On August 28, 2006, Christopher Hitchens claimed that Richard Armitage was the primary source of the Valerie Plame leak, and that Fitzgerald knew this at the beginning of his investigation.[18]

Robert Novak's testimony in the Lewis Libby perjury trial made it known that the two senior administration sources he cited in his article were Richard Armitage and Karl Rove.[19] Journalist Michael Isikoff received confirmation from Rove's lawyer and from lobbyist Richard Hohlt that Rove was also faxed an advance copy of the article revealing a CIA covert agent's identity several days before it was published.[20][broken citation]

On March 6 2007, Libby was convicted of 4 out of 5 charges of lying under oath. Fitzgerald announced on the courthouse steps that while he is always open to receiving new information related to the case, he expects to file no further charges, and the prosecutors will "return to their day jobs." Libby was sentenced to a $250,000 fine, 2 years of probation and a 2 1/2 year prison term. After a court of appeals rejected Libby's attempt to delay the prison sentence while he appealed the verdict, President George W. Bush commuted the prison portion of Libby's sentence.

Two days after the verdict, Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, announced that his committee would ask Plame to testify on March 16, in an effort by his committee to look into "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding Plame's identity."[21]

In March 2007, it was revealed that Fitzgerald "was ranked among prosecutors who had 'not distinguished themselves' on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005..."[22] This was revealed in light of an investigation of the December 2006 firings of several U.S. Attorneys by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, perceived as being politically motivated and despite his previous Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in 2002.[23] The Washington Post article states that two other prosecutors so ranked were dismissed.

On July 2, 2007, President Bush provided a statement[24] on his decision to commute Mr. Libby's prison sentence and noted,

"After the investigation was under way, the Justice Department appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald as a Special Counsel in charge of the case. Mr. Fitzgerald is a highly qualified, professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged."

[edit] Conrad Black and Hollinger

 This section of a biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2008) (Find sources: "Patrick Fitzgerald" — news, books, scholar)

On November 17, 2005, Fitzgerald brought criminal fraud charges against former Canadian media mogul, Lord Conrad Black, as well as against three other Hollinger executives.

The trial of Lord Black began at the Federal Court in Chicago in March 2007. Black was convicted on July 13, 2007 and later sentenced to serve 78 months in federal prison, pay Hollinger $6.1 million and a fine of $125,000.

[edit] RISCISO indictments

On February 1, 2006, it was first announced that Fitzgerald was indicting nineteen members of Risciso, a software and movie piracy ring, in U.S. Federal Court in Chicago.[25][26]

[edit] Blagojevich corruption arrest

Main article: Rod Blagojevich corruption charges

On December 9, 2008, Fitzgerald confirmed in a press conference in Chicago that Illinois state governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, had been arrested by the FBI early that morning on charges of corruption. Fitzgerald described Blagojevich's actions as the "kind of conduct [that] would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."[27] Blagojevich was charged with mail fraud and solicitation of a bribe. According to Fitzgerald, Blagojevich attempted to sell off President-elect Barack Obama's open U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, as well as pressuring the Chicago Tribune to fire editors critical of the Blagojevich administration in exchange for state assistance in selling Wrigley Field.[28] Fitzgerald said at the news conference that, "I laid [sic] awake at night," worrying about the possible firing of Tribune editors.[29]

Fitzgerald's news conference has been criticized by some, including charges that he violated ethical guidelines established by the Justice Department. Victoria Toensing, a former Jusitice Department official, wrote in an editorial to the Wall Street Journal that prosecutors are allowed to "inform the public of the nature and extent" of the charges against the defendant, but cannot "[make] extrajudicial comments that pose a serious and imminent threat of heightening public condemnation of the accused." Toensing contends that statements like "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave," or that Blagojevich's actions represented "a truly new low" were in clear violation of this rule.[30]

[edit] Response to criticism

An author and former Federal Prosecutor of 20 years, Elizabeth de la Vega, has taken issue with Fitzgerald's critics.[31]

[edit] Fitzmas

Fitzmas is a term that may refer to the Plame affair. It may also refer to the December 2008 arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.[32]

[edit] See also

[33]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Savage, Charlie (2003-12-31). "Ashcroft Steps Aside in Probe Into CIA Leak". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/12/31/ashcroft_steps_aside_in_probe_into_cia_leak/. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  2. ^ a b "Why Did Attorney General Ashcroft Remove Himself From The Valerie Plame Wilson Leak Investigation?". FindLaw. 2004-01-06. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040106.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  3. ^ Slevin, Peter (2005-02-02). "The Prosecutor Never Rests". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55560-2005Feb1.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  4. ^ US Attorney Fitzgerald marries teacher ABC Local, June 17, 2008
  5. ^ Patrick Fitzferald Time, December 11, 2008
  6. ^ Wilson, Jamie (2005-10-29). "Workaholic who earned his spurs taking down the mob". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1604245,00.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  7. ^ Harris, Paul (2006-02-12). "Saint Patrick's Day". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1707291,00.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  8. ^ Fitzgerald, Patrick (2003-10-21). "Testimony of the Honorable Patrick Fitzgerald before the Senate Judiciary Committee". United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=965&wit_id=2741. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  9. ^ U.S. Attorneys Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago and James Comey of Manhattan are both tough-minded career prosecutors. They're also best friends - American Lawyer - December 11, 2008
  10. ^ Korecki, Natasha; Herman, Eric & Pallasch, Abdon (2006-09-06). "6 1/2 years for George Ryan". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/output/ryan/cst-nws-ryan075.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  11. ^ Davey, Monica; Ruethling, Gretchen (2006-04-18). "Former Illinois Governor is Convicted in Graft Case". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/us/18ryan.html?ex=1303012800&en=b2e2db299e1900dd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  12. ^ Eisenberg, Daniel (2005-08-01). "Ghosts in the Machine". Time. Time Inc.. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1088735,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-03. 
  13. ^ Davey, Monica; Jack Healy (2008-12-09). "Illinois Governor Charged in Scheme to Sell Obama’s Seat". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/10Illinois.html?hp. 
  14. ^ Pallasch, Abdon (2005-08-04). "Is Fitzgerald's Time Up?". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-fitz04.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  15. ^ Pete Yost, Fitzgerald an aggressive prosecutor, Associated Press (December 9, 2008).
  16. ^ Government Accountability Office (2004-09-30). B-302582, Special Counsel and Permanent Indefinite Appropriation. Government Accountability Office. http://www.gao.gov/decisions/appro/302582.htm. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  17. ^ FDCH e-Media (2005-10-28). "Transcript of Special Counsel Fitzgerald's Press Conference". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801340.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  18. ^ Hitchens, Christopher (2006-08-29). "Plame Out: Plamegate's ridiculous conclusion". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2148555. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  19. ^ "Columnist testifies Rove confirmed Plame was CIA". CNN.com. 2007-02-12. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/12/cia.leak/index.html. 
  20. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17202408/site/newsweek/[broken citation]
  21. ^ "Plame to testify to Congress on leak". Reuters. March 9, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030900549.html. 
  22. ^ "Fitzgerald Ranked During Leak Case". Washington Post. March 20, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031902036.html?sub=AR. 
  23. ^ Solomon, John (2007-03-20). "Gonzales aide rated Fitzgerald mediocre". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200151mar20,1,807063.story?coll=chi-news-hed. Retrieved on 2007-04-11. 
  24. ^ Statement by the President on Executive Clemency for Lewis Libby
  25. ^ Associated Press (2006-02-01). "19 Indicted in Software Piracy Plot". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/01/tech/main1270188.shtml. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  26. ^ United States Department of Justice (2006-09-01) (PDF). 19 Indicted in $6.5 million "RISCISO" Software Piracy Conspiracy. Press release. http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2006/pr0201_01.pdf. Retrieved on 2006-09-16. 
  27. ^ "Ill. governor arrested in corruption scandal". Chicago: Associated Press. 2008-12-09. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/blagojevich_corruption_probe. 
  28. ^ "Fitzgerald: 'New low' in Illinois politics". Breaking News (Chicago: Tribune Company). 2008-12-09. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/us-attorney-fitzgerald-press-conference-blagojevich.html. 
  29. ^ "TRANSCRIPT – Justice Department Briefing on Blagojevich Investigation". The New York Times. 2008-12-09. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/09text-illinois.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all. 
  30. ^ "Fitzgerald Should Keep His Opinions to Himself". Wall Street Journal. 2008-12-15. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122913032247103429.html. 
  31. ^ "The White House Criminal Conspiracy" by Elizabeth de la Vega, published at thenation.com
  32. ^ http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002604.html
  33. ^ Fitzgerald Named "Fed of The Year" by ticklethewire.com

[edit] External links

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