PORTLAND — Saco attorney Gary Prolman has been suspended from practicing law in Maine.

Prolman was suspended effective June 23 as a result of an agreement by Prolman and the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, based on Prolman’s April 29 guilty plea in the U.S. District Court to a federal charge of money laundering of marijuana proceeds, according to court records.

Between 2011 and October 2013, a man named David Jones and others illegally distributed hundreds of pounds of marijuana in Maine and elsewhere. Between June and September of 2012, Prolman laundered about $177,500 worth of those drug proceeds, according to court records.

Prolman took cash from Jones to purchase an interest in Prolman’s sports agency business, according to a prepared statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office. Prolman illegally structured cash deposits and cashier’s check purchases to avoid federal currency reporting requirements; and used structured cashier’s checks to jointly purchase real estate with Jones in a transaction where only Prolman’s name appeared on the deed as the owner.

Prolman received three separate $50,000 cash installment payments, largely consisting of low denomination bills delivered in a backpack, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. When Prolman attempted to deposit more than $10,000 from the first $50,000 installment into bank accounts he controlled, a bank teller told him of the federal currency reporting requirement for deposits exceeding $10,000.

Under federal law, financial institutions that receive more than $10,000 in cash from a customer are required to report the transaction to the Internal Revenue Service. Structuring occurs when a customer breaks up cash transactions into multiple increments of less than $10,000 to avoid this cash transaction reporting requirement. Structuring is illegal under federal law, and is commonly associated with the laundering of drug proceeds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

After being advised of the reporting requirement by the bank teller, Prolman structured numerous cash deposits and paid $60,409 to close the joint real estate purchase using seven structured cashier’s checks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Prolman faces up to 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, or both, according to the statement. He will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.