First Pension Probe Examines Wilson Records : Courts: Judge looks into whether convicted swindler William Cooper influenced governor’s appointment.

Gov. Pete Wilson has turned over confidential appointment records to an Orange County judge who is trying to determine if convicted swindler William E. Cooper wielded political clout with the governor to help one of Cooper’s attorneys win a high-ranking state post.

Superior Court Judge Francisco F. Firmat ruled late Thursday in the long-running First Pension Corp. pyramid scandal that he would review the governor’s records privately to see if any evidence exists to support political-influence allegations.

Investors have charged that Cooper, a big GOP campaign contributor, used his influence to help attorney Gary Mendoza win appointment as commissioner of the state Department of Corporations, the agency that regulated Cooper’s companies.

Wilson, who in June returned $8,000 in campaign contributions from Cooper and his associates, has maintained that neither Cooper nor anyone affiliated with him pushed for Mendoza’s appointment.

Firmat told lawyers for both sides that if he thinks the investors should see the records, he’ll give the governor one more chance to argue against their release. The lawsuit is one of a series brought by investors who lost $136 million in the 1994 collapse of First Pension and its related companies.

Meanwhile, in a related action in San Diego, investors won their first settlement--for $2 million--on Friday in a class-action lawsuit they brought against Monarch Bank in Laguna Niguel over its handling of investor funds that Cooper’s companies had placed there.

“This is the first case to be certified as a class action and the first to be settled,” said Michael J. Aguirre, a lead lawyer for investors. “We think this will start the ball rolling and move some other defendants into a settlement posture.”

Mendoza’s appointment came in July, 1993, supposedly when authorities were investigating Cooper. Only a year earlier, a former employee notified the state that Cooper had hired an actress to fake a state audit in an effort to calm investor fears and cover up wrongdoing. The corporations agency never followed up on that letter.

In the mid-1980s, Mendoza and his law partner, Christopher Cox, now a member of the U.S. House, worked on First Pension securities matters. Cox soon left and Mendoza continued to work on corporate matters.

Both investors and the court-appointed receiver for First Pension sued Mendoza and Cox, alleging that they helped private attorneys to cover up the company’s fraudulent activities. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

Authorities have determined that Cooper masterminded an elaborate pyramid scheme for a dozen years as he pulled money in from several companies and moved it through various bank and investor accounts.