A member of a drug-smuggling ring testified in federal court Thursday that Gary Prolman, a well known Saco attorney who has pleaded guilty to money laundering, converted hundreds of thousands of dollars for the group, knowing that the money was going to the purchase and sale of marijuana.

The testimony of Raymond Paquette, who was a long-haul driver for the drug ring until he was arrested in 2012, contradicts statements Prolman made this year that the group’s ringleader, David Jones, had deceived him and that he did not know Jones was a drug dealer.

Paquette testified as a witness during the second day of Steven Olson’s trial in U.S. District Court in Portland. Olson is accused of being Jones’ “right-hand man,” smuggling hundreds of pounds of marijuana from growers in California to be distributed among lower-level street dealers throughout Maine.

Paquette, 25, of Bangor, was the first person in the enterprise to be arrested, and said that he immediately began cooperating with authorities against Jones. He was pulled over by state police in Kansas on Sept. 5, 2012, while smuggling 106 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car en route from California back to Maine.

Jones, also known as David Kaos, was in a car driving behind Paquette in Kansas and also was arrested. Kansas authorities allowed both men to go free that day, and Jones eventually resumed dealing marijuana.

Paquette testified that he took $300,000 in small bills to Prolman before making the 2012 run to California and that Prolman converted that cash into $100 bills.

Paquette, who went into a federal witness protection program while the case was pending, said he agreed to make the California trip with Jones and another founding member of the ring, Amy Eagleston, driving with the cash hidden in the car while the others flew.

“We vacuum sealed it, wrapped it in duct tape and put it in the door panels of the car,” Paquette said of the money.

Paquette made the statement under questioning by the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry. He then repeated the statement under cross-examination by Olson’s attorney, William Maselli.

“Did you take hundreds of thousands of dollars to attorney Gary Prolman?” Maselli asked.

Paquette leaned into the microphone and replied, “$300,000 in cash for the purchase of marijuana.”

Members of the ring are accused of smuggling as much as 5,500 pounds of marijuana from California from 2011 to 2013 using the U.S. Postal Service and driving hundreds of pounds more across the country, according to federal court documents. The total value of the marijuana was in the millions of dollars.

Both the government and defense rested their cases Thursday. Prolman was not called as a witness.

Although Prolman pleaded guilty on April 29, admitting that he took $177,500 in cash from Jones as an investment partner without properly declaring the money, he has repeatedly said that Jones told him the money was from Jones’ music business and clothing line.

Reached by phone, Prolman called Paquette’s testimony “a complete lie.”

“I have no idea who Ray Paquette is, and I have never met him in my life,” Prolman said. “Nobody has ever come to my office with $300,000 in cash.”

Prolman began representing Jones in February 2012 as a consultant for Jones’ music and clothing businesses, Kaotik Music Group and Kaotik Clothing. Prolman later agreed to sell Jones a portion of his own sports advisory business, GMP Sports Inc., and discussed making Jones a joint owner in Prolman’s law office building at 743 Portland Road in Saco, according to court documents.

Prolman’s attorney, Peter DeTroy, echoed what Prolman said.

“We’ve had very candid discussions with Dan Perry about his concerns early on. And they found certain information that (Jones) invested in Gary’s business and that he wanted to buy a portion of his building, but there was nothing about Raymond Paquette,” DeTroy said.

Prolman has said that he represented Jones only in his legitimate business ventures and immediately broke off all relations after learning of Jones’ drug arrest in Kansas. Federal authorities from the Drug Enforcement Administration tied Jones to Prolman after raiding Jones’ former Scarborough home and discovering receipts and paperwork with both their names.

Before the money-laundering allegations came to light, Prolman had a lucrative side business as an agent for professional hockey players, representing promising young players like Brian Dumoulin of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise and Matt Mangene, a prospect for the Philadelphia Flyers.

As a defense attorney, Prolman represented several men who were accused in the high-profile Kennebunk prostitution scandal in 2012 and 2013.

Prolman, 52, remains free pending sentencing on Sept. 4. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Jones, 29, pleaded guilty on Dec. 10 to two counts of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and two counts of conspiracy to launder money and aiding and abetting. He faces life in prison and testified at Olson’s trial in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.

Olson, 23, of Windham, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute marijuana. His stated defense is that the government’s evidence will be insufficient to find him guilty. His trial resumes Friday morning with closing arguments, followed by jury deliberations.