TOLEDO, Ohio — Less than a month before Election Day, a politically connected coin dealer accused of embezzling from a state investment in rare coins went on trial yesterday in a scandal that has rocked Ohio’s Republican Party.

Tom Noe, 52, is accused of stealing more than $2 million from a fund for injured workers and spending it on his business and renovating his home in the Florida Keys.

“He needed money. He needed it desperately,” prosecutor John Weglian said in opening statements.

Once a member of state boards that oversee the Ohio Turnpike and Ohio’s public universities, Mr. Noe was a top GOP fundraiser who gave more than $105,000 to Republicans, including President Bush and Governor Taft during the 2004 campaign.

He is charged with corrupt activity, theft, money laundering and forgery. If convicted, he could get up to 10 years in prison on the corrupt activity charge alone.

Defense attorney William Wilkinson said Mr. Noe’s contract with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation allowed him to borrow money from the investment fund or loan it to others.

“You can’t steal something from the owner of property if they give you permission to use it,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

Federal prosecutors have not said whether any of the coin money was used for political contributions. If the state money had been funneled to campaigns, authorities could have sought a stiffer penalty.

The scandal has raised Democrats’ hopes of retaking the governor’s office from the GOP, which has dominated the state since 1990. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, has held a doubledigit lead in the polls over Republican nominee Ken Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary of state.

The state invested $50 million with Mr. Noe between 1998 and 2001, but Mr. Weglian said he spent only a fraction of that figure on coins.

Prosecutors said Mr. Noe kept two sets of financial records — one for the workers’ comp agency and one for his own business. When state officials wanted to check on the status of the coins Mr. Noe told them he had bought, he created false documents and borrowed coins from other dealers to trick investigators, Mr. Weglian said.

“If Tom Noe wasn’t a thief, he wouldn’t have had two sets of books,” M. Weglian said.

Mr. Wilkinson said the workers’ comp agency gave Mr. Noe wide authority to manage the investment and that he spent millions buying other collectibles such as historical documents and rare paintings. He also said the workers’ comp fund will end up showing a profit because of Mr. Noe’s investments in collectibles.

In a different case, Mr. Noe pleaded guilty earlier this year to funneling $45,000 to Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign and was sentenced last month to more than two years in federal prison. He will not begin that sentence until after the state charges are resolved.

Investigations into the coin investments led to separate ethics charges against Mr. Taft, who pleaded no contest last year to failing to report golf outings and other gifts.

The trial is expected to last at least six weeks, through the November 7 election.