Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Harvey does not handle Donna's departure well. After refusing to face how much he depends on her, he begins seeing therapist Paula Agard, who helps him confront panic attacks and his fear of abandonment. At the firm, senior partner Jack Soloff challenges Jessica's compensation plan, and Louis wavers between supporting Harvey and joining Jack. Daniel Hardman returns with a billion-dollar client, while Charles Forstman secretly funds Hardman's push to take over the firm. Mike plans a wedding with Rachel and receives a junior-partner promotion that puts his false Harvard record in the spotlight.
Harvey stops the Hardman-Soloff takeover. The firm survives the leadership fight, but police arrest Mike for fraud as the takeover plot collapses. Anita Gibbs builds a case against him, and the team discovers that Sheila Sazs sent the anonymous tip after Mike's promotion made her check his Harvard record. Gibbs pressures Rachel and threatens people close to Donna, while offering Mike and Rachel a route to Columbia if they turn against Harvey and Jessica. The trial makes the partners' years of concealment part of the case.
After the court gives them little time to prepare, Mike defends himself. Gibbs offers to spare the firm if he pleads guilty and serves two years; Mike accepts rather than expose the others to prosecution. Harvey learns the jury would have acquitted Mike, but the plea has already committed him to prison. Mike and Rachel plan to marry before he reports. Mike fears that marrying her while already convicted of fraud will jeopardize Rachel's chance to become a lawyer. Although Rachel still wants to marry, Mike stops the wedding before they do. Harvey drives him to prison, and Jessica, Louis and Donna return to find most of the firm's staff gone.