AUGUSTA, Maine — A wealthy lawyer who was nearly elected governor has been disbarred after serving his sentence for possessing thousands of child sexual abuse images, officials said.
A judge on Monday approved a recommendation by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar that 77-year-old Eliot Cutler be barred from practicing law. Cutler did not oppose the board’s decision, which was made months ago.
The criminal case marked a dramatic downfall for Cutler, who founded an environmental law firm in Washington after serving as an adviser to Senator Edmund Muskie and as President Jimmy Carter’s chief energy and environmental adviser.
Cutler ran for governor as an independent and narrowly lost (by less than 2 percentage points) to Republican Paul LePage in 2010. He lost again in 2014, by a wider margin.
Cutler was convicted under a plea agreement in which he received a four-year prison sentence but served only nine months. He was given a good behavior license and released earlier this year.
