Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor acknowledged in federal court Thursday that she gambled away millions of dollars that her late husband had earmarked for charity purposes.
Ms. O’Connor is getting a “deferred prosecution” deal.
Under a bargain with prosecutors, O’Connor agreed to make $2 million in restitution; if she violates no further laws in the next two years, the charge may be dismissed.
What happened? O’Connor’s husband was Robert Peterson, founder of Jack in the Box who “made a fortune in the restaurant, hotel and banking industries”. So she had money. LOTS of money.
O’Connor is destitute after gambling away $1 billion at casinos in the San Diego area and Las Vegas and Atlantic City from 2000 to 2009, according to prosecutors. She has admitted having a gambling addiction, prosecutors said.
Yeah, you read that right. She gambled away One. Billion. Dollars. That’s $100 million a year, or $8.3 million a month.
Anyway, when she ran out of money, she took money from the charitable foundation her husband started, which is now defunct because she stole the money.
O’Connor, who underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2011, used a cane and needed help walking as she entered the courtroom of federal Judge David Bartick. In her youth, she had been a star swimmer and later a physical education teacher before being elected to the City Council in 1971 as a maverick Democrat.
So other than the question of exactly how you gamble away $100 million a year, and how you do that for ten years without realizing you have a problem: how exactly is a destitute 66-year-old woman who needs help walking supposed to pay back $2 million? (The late Mr. Peterson’s Wikipedia entry says he had four kids from a previous marriage, but apparently none with O’Connor.)
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2013 at 7:09 pm and is filed under California Über Alles, Clippings, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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