Oct. 4 (UPI) — A Manhattan lawyer who paid thousands of dollars to rig is daughter’s college admissions test scores was sentenced to one month in prison Thursday for his role in a national college admissions bribery scandal.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also ordered Gordon Caplan, 53, to pay a $50,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service. He was the fourth parent sentenced in the so-called Operation Varsity Blues scandal.
Prosecutors sought an eight-month sentence for Caplan, while his lawyers said he deserved no more than two weeks in prison stating that he was already a “broken man” with a ruined reputation after being disbarred and removed from his law firm.
Caplan pleaded guilty to paying $75,000 to the ringleader of the scandal, William “Rick” Singer, to ensure his daughter scored a 32 out of 36 on the ACT, placing her in the 97th percentile.
He was caught on a wiretap agreeing to pay Singer to correct his daughter’s ACT answers.
“I’m not worried about the moral issue here. I’m worried about the, if she’s caught doing that, you know, she’s finished,” he said during the call.
Caplan also hired a lawyer to sue the ACT after the organization told him it wouldn’t score her test and would revoke an accommodation allowing her to take the test in California.
More than 50 parents, coaches and others charged have been charged in the national scandal including 15 who have pleaded guilty.
Last month, actor Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison and 250 hours of community service in addition to being ordered to pay a $30,000 fine for paying $15,000 to fix her daughter’s test scores. Los Angeles businessman Devin Sloane, 53, was sentenced to four months in prison, in addition, completing 500 hours of community service over two years and paying a $95,000 fine for paying $250,000 to get his son into the University of Southern California as a fake water polo recruit.
