Ex-San Diego Mayor O'Connor admits taking charity funds as she won, lost $1 billion gambling

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Ex-San Diego Mayor O'Connor admits taking charity funds as she won, lost $1 billion gambling
Article by: ELLIOT SPAGAT , Associated Press
Updated: February 14, 2013 - 1:48 PM

SAN DIEGO - Former San Diego mayor Maureen O'Connor has admitted in federal court that she misappropriated $2 million from her late husband's charitable foundation due to a gambling addiction in which won more than $1 billion but lost even more over nearly a decade.

O'Connor made the acknowledgement Thursday in an agreement with the government to defer prosecution for two years while she attempts to repay the debt.

O'Connor was the Democratic leader of California's second-largest city from 1986 to 1992. The two-term mayor was elected San Diego's first female leader after eight years on the City Council. She was married to Robert O. Peterson, founder of the Jack-In-The-Box restaurant chain.

Prosecutors say her gambling winnings amounted to more than $1 billion from 2000 to 2009 but she lost more than that.


Read more: http://www.startribune.com/nation/191233281.html

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[center]

Maureen O'Connor[/center]

[Exultant Democracy]

1. billion here a billion there and soon we're talking about real money.

[olddad56]

10. Just like peeing in a cash register, it can run into real money.

groans accepted.

[deathrind]

2. $1 Billion... wow

[upaloopa]

3. I lived in SD then I never trusted her.

[CBHagman]

4. A BILLION?

No, more than a billion?

That stops me right there.

[frylock]

5. there are two types of gamblers; losers and liars

[slackmaster]

6. I'm trying to wrap my head around how a person could possibly gamble away a BILLION dollars

I've seen a person drop $10,000 at the Del Mar racetrack in an afternoon. You'd have to do that 100,000 times to lose a billion.

I really hope that's a typo.

ETA a local news outlet that tends to be accurate says she WON more than a billion dollars over a period of years, but that her losses exceeded that.

http://www.10news.com/news/former-san-diego-mayor-maureen-oconnor-charged-with-money-laundering-021413

[Blue_Tires]

17. I want to know how she did it for over a decade without word getting out....

Someone always knows, and word always tends to get out....

[Psephos]

25. If you re-read the story, she played a billion, rather than lost a billion.

In other words, most of that money she won, and then lost what she won.

The article is sparse on details, but it sounds like her net loss was in the low double-digit millions. (Which of course is still crazy.) Remember, net loss is the change in final assets after winnings are lost.

So, for example if I take $100 to the blackjack table, run it up to $2000, then give it back until I only have $10 remaining, my net loss is $90, but I gambled $2000.

See the difference?

[slackmaster]

26. I understand the math, the finances, and the tax implications of all that. My gambling limit is...

...about $20 per day if I happen to be in a situation where there is gambling, such as a work-related outing to the racetrack.

I have a group of friends who get together once a year to play poker. I take about $10 in change to the game, which is about what everybody else in the group brings.

I've seen what gambling addiction can do to people. It's not pretty. It's unfortunate that "Mayor Mo" didn't seek help a long time ago.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Best way to repay the debt is to hit it big at the casinos

good think they let her go free so she could do that.
Seems she stole enough to be too big to jail.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Having moved to Vegas I can only say one thing...

See all those lights?



The casinos have ZERO problem paying for the electric bill.

[austinlw]

12. The funds to build

all those big fancy places were not supplied by the winners.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Not always, but the casinos take advantage of people thinking they can beat the house.

[subterranean]

9. She must have made some awfully big bets

to have won AND lost over a billion dollars. How do you do that?

[Arctic Dave]

11. The Wall Street banksters are laughing their asses off.

They lose that in a few hours and and get paid to do it.

[Blue_Tires]

16. ^^^^^^truth

[csziggy]

20. And get HUGE bonuses to do it! n/t

[Hosnon]

28. You're so depressingly on point. nt.

[Kingofalldems]

13. Gambling addiction is just as bad as drugs or alchohol

An aside, she has the map of Ireland on her face.

[Katashi_itto]

14. I have a problem just gamblling twenty dollars away...one billion...???

May she do hard time...like a year for every million she stole....

[Adsos Letter]

18. Perfect photo!

"OK, lady...you wanna' hit or stand?"

[rachel1]

19. Yet another lying and thieving repuke abusing power once again?

How surprising!!!

[progressiveinaction]

21. She was not a repuke.

Unfortunately she's a democrat.

[Safetykitten]

22. That's alot of Jumbo Jacks.

[defacto7]

23. That's what I call....

Sttiiiiiiuuuuppiiiiiiiddd!!!

I lost a quarter in a slot machine once.

[mokawanis]

24. A billion dollars over a ten year period

averages out to around $275,000 a day. When did she find time to sleep?

[exboyfil]

31. Baccarat anyone

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan/17/baccarat-making-big-difference/

You can bet $100K a hand.

[mokawanis]

32. Got a billion dollars you could loan me?

I tend to do pretty well in Vegas.

Well, the one time I went there and played blackjack.

[goclark]

27. Let's take the House and Senate

for example....

I would say at least 85% of them take lots of $$$$'s under the table..... Money Grabbers that RECEIVE A FAT CHECK - isn't it for life?
Fully paid for Health Insurance -- by the citizens of the USA

Jessie Jr. is the TIP of the DEEDS PILE.

[dimbear]

29. There definitely is such a thing as a gambling addiction. And this woman has one.

That's as far as I'm willing to judge her.

[exboyfil]

30. Not a bad track record in betting

Must have been playing some pretty good odds games (or was very lucky). 0.2% losses in her betting (or even less).

I do think it is crap that they are delaying prosecution so she can return the money. You pull $100 out of the till at work, and want to try to cover it the next day after getting caught - you still are on your way to jail.

I visited Vegas one time when I was an adult. I played the $0.10 Poker machines at the Stratosphere. I was not running 0.2% losses on my bet, but I was having some pretty cheap entertainment (alot less than at Chucky Cheese's for example). If you have to be in Vegas, it was a cheap thing to do (I don't think they have those machines anymore).