One-Time Political Contributor Accused of $1-Million Scheme : Courts: Prosecutors say the ex-commodities broker gambled away most of his clients’ investment funds.

A former commodities broker who once made hefty contributions to Mayor Tom Bradley, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and other prominent politicians was accused in court Wednesday of stealing more than $1 million from wealthy victims in a phony investment scheme.

In a Van Nuys Superior Court trial, a prosecutor charged that Mark R. Weinberg, 37, of Beverly Hills gambled away most of the money that he took under false pretenses from prominent investors.

Alleged victims include James Aubrey, former president of CBS, and John Paul Jones De Joria, president of John Paul Mitchell Systems, a Santa Clarita-based hair products company.

In earlier interviews, Weinberg, who is in jail in lieu of $850,000 bail, said he was a victim of business reverses and was working to pay back all investors when he was charged.

Under cross-examination Wednesday by Weinberg, who is representing himself in the case, De Joria calmly said he lost $450,000 to the former broker because “you told me a real good story, Mark, and I believed it.”

In an interview outside court, De Joria said that in investing money with Weinberg, he was influenced by the broker’s lifestyle in Beverly Hills and his political connections and contributions.

In 1984, Weinberg gave $200,000 in cash and a $50,000 loan to Reiner, then Los Angeles city attorney running for district attorney. The Weinberg largess accounted for about one-fourth of the total Reiner raised in his successful bid to unseat Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian.

Weinberg also gave $84,000 in the mid-1980s to Bradley, and he hosted parties at his Beverly Hills home for Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale and U.S. Sens. Alan Cranston of California and Bill Bradley of New Jersey.

Weinberg, who faces up to 10 years in prison, is accused of four counts of grand theft and eight counts of issuing checks with insufficient funds.

The state attorney general’s office was appointed to prosecute the case after Judge John S. Fisher excused Reiner’s office because of the potential for conflict of interest stemming from the contributions.

On the stand Wednesday, De Joria said that he twice gave Weinberg checks for $100,000--the first in 1987--and that both times the defendant promised to repay him $125,000 within a few days. In both cases, Weinberg kept his promise and De Joria said he pocketed a $25,000 profit each time.

De Joria said Weinberg each time explained that he had arranged a foreign currency trade and “needed the cash to deposit in his bank to show that he had the money all along.”

But in June, 1988, De Joria said he gave Weinberg $200,000 and did not get any money back, much less the $250,000 Weinberg had promised. The hair products executive said that over the next 20 months, Weinberg took him “for a sucker time and again” by persuading him to turn over an additional $250,000 in small sums.

Each time, De Joria said, Weinberg persuaded him that the additional money would allow him to close deals that would free up all the money he was owed.

But Deputy Atty. Gen. Tricia Ann Bigelow said she will introduce evidence to show that nearly all of De Joria’s checks were cashed at Las Vegas casinos and gambled away.

The prosecutor also said former CBS chief Aubrey will testify that he gave Weinberg $100,000 belonging to his daughter, Susan, on Weinberg’s promise to return $125,000 the next day after closing a commodities deal.

That check also was cashed at a casino and the money was never returned, Bigelow said.