PORTLAND — Saco attorney Gary Prolman will be suspended from practicing law for six months due to misconduct with a client.

The Board of Overseers of the Bar announced Monday that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered the suspension on Sept. 14, to go into effect Nov. 1.

The suspension is related to the attorney’s conduct with a client. Prolman had a client who needed a place to stay after her boyfriend “savagely assaulted” according to court documents by Associate Justice Donald Alexander.

Prolman offered her an apartment above his U.S. Route 1, Saco, law office, but did not disclose to her support team that he would be living in the apartment.

Prolman was aware of his client’s history, which included being submissive to men and vulnerable to abusive physical and sexual relationships, wrote Alexander.

On more than one occasion between March 29 and April 9, Prolman approached his client seeking sexual gratification and engaged in sexual acts with her, according to Alexander.  

“While she did not consent, she also did not object to Prolman’s sexual acts, simply submitting to what Prolman demanded — ‘I went along with it’ — as she had done in past relationships with men who had taken advantage of her vulnerabilities,” wrote Alexander.

Prolman violated rules of the bar when he failed to “render candid advice” by not telling the client and her support team that he would be living in the apartment, said Alexander. He also violated the rules of the bar when he placed his own personal interest over his client’s, said Alexander. 

“… By initiating a sexual relationship with his client and by providing her alcoholic beverages to consume, Prolman violated duties owed to his client and the legal system,” wrote Alexander. “Prolman’s actions in his treatment of his client and in his failure to disclose to her support team that she would be living with him was negligent and reckless, though probably not so well thought out or planned in advance sufficiently to be considered intentional.”

This is the second time Prolman has been suspended from practicing law. 

Prolman was convicted in 2014 on conspiracy to launder $177,500 worth of marijuana proceeds. In June of 2012, he was suspended from practicing law, and his law license was reinstated in July 2016. Prolman served a two-year prison sentence, with nine months in federal prison and the rest at a halfway house and supervised release. 

In 2013, Prolman made news when he successfully defended a man accused of being a client of a prostitute in a high-profile Kennebunk prostitution case. He was also a sports agent representing hockey players.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.