Gordon Caplan, center, arrives at federal court May 21, 2019, in Boston, where he is scheduled to plead guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. AP Photo: Michael Dwyer

Gordon Caplan, the former co-chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher who pleaded guilty to working with a crooked college admissions consultant to rig his daughter's ACT score, asked a Boston federal judge Thursday for a sentence of no prison time

Prosecutors have called for an eight-month sentence for Caplan, saying not only did he pay a $75,000 bribe so that his daughter's test answers would be corrected by associates of corrupt consultant William "Rick" Singer, but he hired a lawyer to challenge the ACT's decision to cancel her score. Eight months is the bottom of the guidelines range agreed to in Caplan's guilty plea.

But Caplan argued his admission of guilt doesn't tell the full story. He said he was caught up "in a toxic mix of tense family issues at home, aggressive recruiting and college 'advisory' pitches" that "warped" his judgment and "allowed himself to fall prey to his own ego." Public humiliation and the other consequences Caplan said he and his family suffered were enough, he argued.

"He screwed up. He committed a crime. He has owned it. He was a highly skilled lawyer who should have known better," Caplan's defense team at Ropes & Gray and Smith Villazor wrote. "Yet, the Gordon Caplan who was on the phone with Rick Singer was a father looking at an easier path forward; his role as a corporate lawyer was peripheral to this conduct."

The government reiterated Thursday its request for an eight-month sentence, plus a $40,000 fine and a year of supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said Caplan wasn't like some other parents, who were interested in legitimate college admissions advice but were convinced to break the law. He only came to Singer for a criminal scheme, Rosen wrote.

The prosecution's new sentencing memo also included previously unreleased material from a recorded call between Singer and Caplan where he is quoted as saying, "I never want to do anything that couldn't be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal but … we did what we did."

"Like many con-men, Caplan committed his crime from behind a façade of feigned integrity," the government wrote. "Caplan boasted on his law firm's website and in interviews with news organizations about his pro bono work for immigrant children even as he secretly conspired to bribe an ACT administrator and pay a corrupt test-taker to cheat on his own child's college entrance exams.

"Jail is the only appropriate sentence for a leader of the bar who displays such callous disregard for honesty and the rule of law," prosecutors added.

Some defendants have already been sentenced. Stephen Semprevivo, for whom prosecutors had sought 15 months in prison, was sentenced to four months behind bars Thursday, as had Devin Sloane, another defendant. Felicity Huffman was sentenced to two weeks behind bars—and Caplan said that if he was sentenced to any time at all, he should merit a similar sentence, saying he "basically engaged in the same conduct" as Huffman did.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 3.