The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Caplan pleads guilty to cheating
BOSTON — Disgraced Greenwich lawyer Gordon Caplan wants the world to know one thing: His daughter did not know he was breaking the law to boost her score on the ACT.
“I’m deeply ashamed. I’m terribly sorry,” Caplan said Tuesday afternoon outside the courtroom after pleading guilty to a federal charge of cheating on her behalf. “I’m really sorry for my daughter, who I love more than anything in the world. She knew nothing about this. She hasn’t even applied to college yet.”
He also apologized to high schoolers everywhere going through the college admissions process. “It’s a public penance, helping them and supporting them.”
During his court appearance, Caplan entered his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for paying $75,000 to a fake charity to have his daughter’s answers to be corrected on her ACT exam.
Prosecutors recommended that the 53-year-old Greenwich lawyer serve eight to 14 months in federal prison, pay a $40,000 fine and complete 12 months of supervised release. Caplan, the former co-chairman of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Manhattan, is to be sentenced Oct. 3.
Under the charge, Caplan pleaded guilty to using U.S. mail services to attempt to defraud ACT Inc. of his daughter’s real exam and score, which are the property of the ACT testing company.
On March 12, Caplan was arrested in a college admissions cheating scandal centered on ringleader William “Rick” Singer and his test-prep business. Through wire tappings from June to December, federal officials found that Caplan paid for a California psychologist to evaluate his daughter and conclude she had learning differences and qualified for extra time to take her college entrance exams.
Prompted by Judge Indira Talwani, Caplan told the court he fully understood the charges against him, and waived his right to an indictment by a grand jury. He also said he understood that by entering a plea, he waived his right to a trial and the rights that come with it.
Talwani informed Caplan that she can impose a longer sentence than what the prosecution recommended. The maximum sentence is 20 years behind bars.
He broke from his usual refrain of “Yes, your honor” to assure the court of his daughter’s innocence.
“I want to emphasize that my daughter had absolutely nothing to do with this,” Caplan said.
Levy echoed Caplan, saying to Talwani, “She had no knowledge of Mr. Caplan’s conduct.”
The prosecutors and Levy also reached an agreement that Caplan’s wife, Amy Treibick Caplan, will not be charged in the case. This had not been included in the plea agreement.
According to wiretapped phone calls, Amy Caplan had expressed concerns about the scheme that her husband agreed to. “(My spouse is) very nervous about all this,” Gordon Caplan said, referring to the arrangements he and Singer made for Caplans’ daughter to take the ACT in California.
Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office recited to Talwani the actions leading up to Caplan’s arrest.
Singer told Caplan that his daughter would need to be evaluated by a neuropsychologist, who would diagnose her with a learning disability so she would be allowed to receive extra time to take the ACT.
“We’ll have to show that there’s some discrepancies in her learning, which there’s got to be anyways,” Singer said. He told Caplan his daughter needs “to be stupid” so the psychologist could provide the documents needed to get extra time.
“All the wealthy families that figured out that if I get my kid tested and they get extended time, they can do better on the test,” Singer told Caplan in a phone call. “So most of these kids don’t even have issues, but they’re getting time. The playing field is not fair.”
Singer also suggested the Caplans hire one of his staff members to take classes for his daughter, who was attending an online high school, to improve her grades for her college application. Amy Caplan said she had a “problem with that.”
Gordon Caplan also expressed interest in an athletic recruitment scheme to get his daughter into Cornell University, but ultimately decided not to pursue that, attorneys said.
Caplan and his daughter flew to California for the evaluation. Her diagnosis was mailed to the ACT, who approved the request for extra time after two failed attempts. The testing company also approved her to take the test in a testing center in West Hollywood. The center was run by Igor Dvorskiy, a test administrator bribed by Singer.
In December, the Caplans’ daughter flew to Los Angeles to take the test. In prior practice tests, she scored between 22 and 24 points.
A total of 13 defendants have now pleaded guilty in Operation Varsity Blues, a sting that ended with 50 arrests, including the ringleaders, college coaches and dozens of wealthy parents. Seven additional parents have agreed to plead guilty and are awaiting court hearings.