Attorney Probed For Hypnotizing Female Clients

NOVEMBER 19--An Ohio lawyer is under criminal investigation for hypnotizing a female client during meetings and directing her to engage in a series of sexual activities while in a trance and under his control, police report.

The probe of Michael Fine, 57, was detailed yesterday in an emergency court motion filed by the Lorain County Bar association, which is seeking an immediate suspension of the lawyer, who has been practicing for more than 30 years.

According to the court records, a second woman recently told police that she believed that Fine sought to hypnotize her during meetings in his office (where the pair discussed the woman’s divorce case).

As detailed in an affidavit prepared by an investigator with the Lorain County prosecutor, “Jane Doe” hired Fine last year to represent her in a child custody matter. The woman recently contacted cops to report that she had “strange memories and feelings” after a series of meetings with Fine that occurred in his office and in a conference room at the county courthouse.

“She would be unable to recall substantial portions of the meetings, and afterwards she would realize her clothes and bra were out of place and moved, and her vagina was wet,” reported investigator Richard Thomas.

After being told by cops that “more definite evidence” was needed, the woman recorded her next two telephone conversations with Fine, and provided the tapes to police. As described by Thomas, one of the October recordings begins with a discussion of the woman’s court case, “but when Fine learns she is alone, he places her in a trance.” What follows, Thomas noted, “is of an explicit sexual nature, wherein he induces her into multiple orgasms.”

The bar association motion charges that Fine (pictured above) used “code” words to induce “Jane Doe” to “enter a trance-like stage.” While his client was hypnotized, Fine told her that she was “being made love to by the world’s greatest lover” and that he was her “teacher.” The attorney also assured “Jane Doe” that she “will appear normal and only remember their discussions regarding legal matters,” Thomas stated.

An October 21 phone call followed a similar script, with Fine inducing “Jane Doe” into a trance after a “short conversation about her case.” During the call, Thomas reported, Fine told the woman he would cause her “horniness and arousal and excitement” and a “life-changing experience.” The bar association complaint adds Fine told the woman that their encounters were “a secret and no one’s going to know, right.” Fine, who directed the woman to bring a vibrator to their next office meeting, ended the call by saying, “You’ll only recollect what we were talking about your case until we see each other tomorrow. Do you understand?”

Armed with the audio recordings, criminal investigators fitted “Jane Doe” with audio and video recording devices in advance of a November 7 meeting in Fine’s office.

As agents monitored the sting operation, Fine hypnotized “Jane Doe” and directed her to sit on a couch. “Fine begins sexual dialogue, explaining sexual acts that he will do for her,” Thomas reported. Cops busted into the room as Fine was seated next to the woman “holding and massages her hand and rubs her shoulders.”

As recounted in the bar association motion, Fine told the woman that “you will insist to me that I touch you in any way that brings you pleasure,” and that “you are free to touch yourself. To play with yourself. To get yourself off. Have every experience that you so crave and desire.” The lawyer also told “Jane Doe” that “you are going to demand that I touch you and you touch me. Do you understand?”

State investigators provided bar association officials with copies of telephone recordings made by “Jane Doe” and a DVD of her November 7 office meeting with Fine.

A second female client, identified in court filings as “Jane Doe 2,” has alleged that Fine “was attempting to hypnotize her” during meetings in his office. The woman, who hired Fine in September to represent her in a divorce action, told bar officials that he repeatedly discussed “relaxation and meditation techniques” with her.

During one meeting, “Jane Doe 2” recalled, Fine sat beside her and touched her fingers, forearm, and forehead. He asked if her arms felt “weightless” and directed her to “place her finger tips together and imagine two green dots coming together.” Fine then told her to focus on his voice while he counted down from ten, saying that she would experience a “wave of relaxation” that would cause leave her eyes feeling heavy. He added that she should “think of a happy place--the sounds, the smell, etc..”

The woman reported that in her after-hours meetings with Fine he would comment on “her looks and physical appearance” and asked about the nature of her sexual activity with her husband, including whether they had “rough sex.”

“Jane Doe 2” added that she “felt the loss of time during her meetings…as she cannot recall how so much time passed during the meetings for what she remembers discussing.”

After recently learning that Fine no longer worked at his law firm, “Jane Doe 2” told one of Fine’s former partners that she “felt as though she might have been hypnotized,” the attorney recommended that she contact the local prosecutor’s office (where she subsequently met with Investigator Thomas).

“Jane Doe 2” told bar association officials that she felt “creepy and disgusted” by Fine’s conduct, and was sick that he “picked her out” after she was “so upset and distraught about her marital situation when she went to him.”

In seeking Fine’s immediate suspension, the Lorain bar association argues in its Ohio Supreme Court that the attorney “poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public.” Fine is married to a court reporter and is the father of two daughters. (13 pages)