PORTLAND —  The Board of Overseers of the Bar says a Saco attorney who was disbarred for six months after engaging in sexual acts with a vulnerable client deserved a harsher sentence.

In September 2017, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court suspended Gary Prolman’s law license for six months effective Nov. 1, 2017, due to misconduct with a client. Prolman’s license had previously been suspended over money laundering charges.

According to court records, Prolman had a client who needed a safe place to stay after her boyfriend “savagely assaulted her.” Prolman offered the apartment above his law firm, without disclosing to her support team that he would also be living in the apartment. She lived with him from March 27 to April 11, 2017.

Prolman was aware of his client’s history as a victim of abuse and sexual trafficking, and of her history of submissiveness to men and vulnerability to abuse, according to an argument submitted on Aug. 28 by The Board of Overseers of the Bar, an agency which governs the conduct of lawyers as officers of the court.

Prolman approached his client seeking sexual gratification and engaged in sexual acts with her, according to court documents.

“Although she did not consent, she also did not communicate her objection to Prolman’s sexual acts, simply submitting to what Prolman demanded as she had done in past relationships with men who had taken advantage of her vulnerability,” states the board in its argument.

The argument also states that Prolman violated probation because he drank alcohol and allowed the client, who had a felony drug conviction, to live with him.

The six-month probation sentence substantially minimizes the seriousness of Prolman’s conduct, according to the board.

“We would conclude that the court committed no error of fact or law, but that the sanction imposed is wholly insufficient to protect the public and is therefore an abuse of discretion,” argued the board.

Prolman was convicted in 2014 on conspiracy to launder $177,500 worth of marijuana proceeds. He was suspended from practicing law for four years beginning in June 2012. Prolman served a two-year prison sentence, with nine months in a federal prison and the rest at a halfway house and supervised release.

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

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

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