Former San Diego mayor gambled away more than $1 billion, USA Today reported.
O'Connor used $2 million from her late husband's charity, R.P. Foundation that's now bankrupt, to start off her gambling spree. Her late husband was Robert O. Peterson, the co-founder of Jack-In-The-Box restaurant chain.
O'Connor, 66, served as the Democratic mayor of San Diego between 1986 and 1992. The U.S. attorney announced Wednesday she was charged with money laundering after a nine-year gambling bender.
She will have to pay back exactly $2, 088,000 to the foundation within two years. The foundation was a major donor to the San Diego police, City of Hope, the Alzhimer's Association, Sharp Healthcare, Little Wishes Foundation, San Diego Hospice and the John Burton Foundation. The foundation was also co-run by her twin sister, according to the San Diego Reader.
U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy released a statement that made it clear O'Connor had to also pay state and federal income taxes for the $1 billion she won then lost during her nine-year gamble between 2000 and 2009 within the San Diego, Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos. She also has to undergo therapy for addiction. The former mayor is also in poor health, she had a tumor removed from her brain in 2011.
At the federal court hearing, O'Connor released a statement saying she "never meant to hurt the city."
Prosecutors added that as a result of her tumor, O'Connor sustained "significant complications, including a pulmonary embolism and cognitive impairment."
O'Connor went to great lengths to keep her finances for gambling afloat. She liquidated her savings, sold much of her real estate holdings and personal items. Her private estate in La Jolla, Calif. needed a second and third mortgage, according to USA Today.
