A hotshot Manhattan lawyer was sentenced Thursday to one month in jail for paying $75,000 to fudge his daughter’s ACT exam scores.
Gordon Caplan, 52, a former co-chairman at white-shoe firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, admitted his role in the sweeping college admissions scandal in May.
A federal judge in Boston also ordered the disgraced attorney to pay a $50,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service, on top of hard time.
“This was not a victimless crime,” Caplan said in court Thursday, adding that he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions. “The real victims of this crime are the kids and parents who played by the rules of the college admissions process.”
Judge Indira Talwani said Caplan was among the “least culpable” of dozens of defendants charged in the bribery scheme.
Prosecutors asked for a sentence of eight months and $40,000 fine, ripping Caplan for his criminal conduct in spite of his law degree.
“That a lawyer who has reached the apex of his profession could engage in such blatant criminality reveals a staggering disdain for the law,” they wrote in court papers last week. “As much as any defendant in this case, Caplan deserves to go to jail.”
In response, Caplan’s lawyers reiterated to the judge that he copped a plea early on in the case and issued a public apology. They said he deserved no more than two weeks — the same sentence “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman recently received for her role in the widespread scam.
“He screwed up. He committed a crime. He has owned it,” Caplan’s lawyers wrote in filings.
Caplan has since resigned from Willkie Farr and his law license is suspended pending a disciplinary hearing.
“To put it bluntly, Gordon’s professional life has been destroyed,” his lawyers wrote.
Caplan, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, was among 35 deep-pocketed parents ensnared in the scandal involving some of the top universities in the nation.
With Post wires