Patrick Fitzgerald is the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois who headed the 2005 investigation into the leak of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. It was his research that led to the indictment and conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby.

This was not the first time Fitzgerald's work made headlines.  He was also a major figure in the prosecution of the perpetrator of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Fitzgerald began serving as the U.S. attorney on September 1, 2001. During the last four years, Fitzgerald has provided leadership and played a personal role in many significant investigations involving terrorism financing, public corruption, corporate fraud and violent crime, including narcotics and gang prosecutions.

Fitzgerald attended the Jesuit-run Regis High School in New York and went on to attend Amherst College and Harvard Law School, where he pursued a passion for rugby as well as for law.

On his summers off, Fitzgerald's strong work ethic kept him busy and he worked as a doorman, following in his father's footsteps.
Both of Fitzgerald's parents are from Co. Clare. He was raised in Brooklyn.

 

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