Alex van der Zwaan, the former Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom associate who pleaded guilty to lying in the Russia investigation earlier this year, told a Washington, D.C., judge Tuesday that his cooperation and remorse justify a nonjail sentence.

Van der Zwaan faces up to six months in prison. His lawyer, Cooley partner William Schwartz, wrote in a sentencing memo to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson that the 33-year-old’s career is ruined, and that he has “been serving a sentence while stuck in limbo” in the United States. The memo said that while it did not excuse his conduct, van der Zwaan lied to investigators in a Nov. 3 meeting because he feared for his career. At the time of his initial interview with the Office of the Special Counsel, the filing said, Skadden lawyers represented van der Zwaan.