Greenwich lawyer Gordon Caplan takes plea deal in college bribery case

Gordon Caplan, a Greenwich resident and former co-chairman of New York City law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, has agreed to a plea deal in the college admissions bribery scandal.

Under the plea deal”™s terms, Caplan and prosecutors have agreed to a recommended term of 8 to 14 months in prison, a fairly common sentence for someone with no criminal history accused of such crimes. Prosecutors also agreed to recommend a year of supervised release and a $40,000 fine. Caplan also waived his right to appeal the court’s decision.

“After the court issues a written judgment, defendant will lose the right to appeal or otherwise challenge his conviction and sentence, regardless of whether he later changes his mind or finds new information that would have led him not to agree to give up these rights in the first place,” the agreement said.

The maximum sentence for the conspiracy count that most of the defendants who have pled guilty ”“ including actress Felicity Huffman ”“ is 20 years in prison. The other celebrity in the scandal, Lori Loughlin, has also reportedly been offered a plea deal but has not announced how she plans to proceed.

Caplan is accused of paying $75,000 to get a test supervisor to correct the answers on an ACT college entrance exam after his daughter, a high school junior, took it. He has maintained that she was unaware of his actions.

“The remorse and shame that I feel is more than I can convey,” Caplan said when announcing his intention to plead guilty last week.