Gordon Caplan, left. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The disgraced former co-chair of Willkie Farr, Gordon Caplan, has been sentenced to one month in jail. You likely recall the former big shot mergers & acquisitions 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 U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani has sentenced him to time behind bars — a far cry from the top of Biglaw.
Before Judge Talwani handed down the sentence, Caplan expressed remorse and said the real victims were those who played by the college admissions rules:
“I disregarded the values I’ve had throughout my life,” Caplan told U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani just before she sentenced him. He said “the real victims of this crime are the kids and parents who play by the rules in the college admissions process.”
Caplan had previously asked to be spared any time behind bars — or if he had to serve time, for it to be a limited sentence of 14 days, similar to the sentence of Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman — while the government had requested he spent eight months in jail. Caplan’s sentence is in the mid-low-end range of those who have already pleaded guilty in the college admissions scandal. On the low end is Huffman’s 14 days, and so far, the high end has been four-month sentences to Stephen Semprevivo and Devin Sloane.
Kathryn 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).