Ex-San Diego Mayor O'Connor admits taking charity funds as she won, lost $1 billion gambling
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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Maureen O'Connor[/center]
Exultant Democracy
(6,594 posts)olddad56
(5,732 posts)groans accepted.
deathrind
(1,786 posts)upaloopa
(11,417 posts)CBHagman
(16,986 posts)No, more than a billion?
That stops me right there.
frylock
(34,825 posts)slackmaster
(60,567 posts)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
(55,445 posts)Someone always knows, and word always tends to get out....
Psephos
(8,032 posts)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
(60,567 posts)...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
(60,010 posts)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
(32,723 posts)See all those lights?
The casinos have ZERO problem paying for the electric bill.
austinlw
(54 posts)all those big fancy places were not supplied by the winners.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)subterranean
(3,427 posts)to have won AND lost over a billion dollars. How do you do that?
Arctic Dave
(13,812 posts)They lose that in a few hours and and get paid to do it.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)csziggy
(34,136 posts)Hosnon
(7,800 posts)Kingofalldems
(38,458 posts)An aside, she has the map of Ireland on her face.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)May she do hard time...like a year for every million she stole....
Adsos Letter
(19,459 posts)"OK, lady...you wanna' hit or stand?"
rachel1
(538 posts)How surprising!!!
progressiveinaction
(150 posts)Unfortunately she's a democrat.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)defacto7
(13,485 posts)Sttiiiiiiuuuuppiiiiiiiddd!!!
I lost a quarter in a slot machine once.
mokawanis
(4,442 posts)averages out to around $275,000 a day. When did she find time to sleep?
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)You can bet $100K a hand.
mokawanis
(4,442 posts)I tend to do pretty well in Vegas.
Well, the one time I went there and played blackjack.
goclark
(30,404 posts)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
(6,271 posts)That's as far as I'm willing to judge her.
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)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).