Biglaw

Disgraced Former Biglaw Chair Asks For No Jail Time In College Admissions Scandal

The government is seeking eight months of jail time.

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Gordan Caplan

Gordon Caplan has fallen quite far from being the co-chair of an Am Law 50 firm. The former Willkie Farr partner got caught in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal, eventually pleading guilty to paying $75,000 to “college coaches” turned government cooperating witnesses in a scheme to have a professional alter his daughter’s answers on the ACT in order to get her a higher score.

Now payment is due on that guilty verdict, and both the government and the defense have submitted sentencing memos to the court arguing what they each think the appropriate punishment should be. As you might imagine, their recommended sentences are wildly different. As reported by Law.com, Caplan’s defense team is arguing he should avoid jail time, saying he’s already suffered consequences as a result of his actions:

But Caplan argued his admission of guilt doesn’t tell the full story. He said he was caught up “in a toxic mix of tense family issues at home, aggressive recruiting and college ‘advisory’ pitches” that “warped” his judgment and “allowed himself to fall prey to his own ego.” Public humiliation and the other consequences Caplan said he and his family suffered were enough, he argued.

“He screwed up. He committed a crime. He has owned it. He was a highly skilled lawyer who should have known better,” Caplan’s defense team at Ropes & Gray and Smith Villazor wrote. “Yet, the Gordon Caplan who was on the phone with Rick Singer was a father looking at an easier path forward; his role as a corporate lawyer was peripheral to this conduct.”

The government disagrees with that assessment, they say Caplan should be sentenced to eight months in jail with a $40,000 fine and a year of supervised release:

“Like many con-men, Caplan committed his crime from behind a façade of feigned integrity,” the government wrote. “Caplan boasted on his law firm’s website and in interviews with news organizations about his pro bono work for immigrant children even as he secretly conspired to bribe an ACT administrator and pay a corrupt test-taker to cheat on his own child’s college entrance exams.

“Jail is the only appropriate sentence for a leader of the bar who displays such callous disregard for honesty and the rule of law,” prosecutors added.

Jail sentences for others who have pleaded guilty in the college admissions scandal have varied from 14 days on the low end (Felicity Huffman) to four months (Stephen Semprevivo and Devin Sloane). Caplan will be sentenced on October 3rd.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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