Ex-mayor used charity’s money in $1bn gamble

The former mayor of San Diego lost more than $1bn over eight years as she fought a gambling addiction that saw her take millions from a charity.

The allegations were made by federal prosecutors in court yesterday.

Maureen O’Connor, who took the money from the charity set up by her now deceased husband, is to repay about $2m.

The U-T San Diego reported that O’Connor, 66, has been given two years to repay the money. She has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and is to be tried at the end of the two years.

Between 2000 to 2008, it is alleged, she gambled and won more than $1bn in casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and San Diego — but the papers say that her losses were higher. The U-T said she is described in the papers as “destitute” and in poor health.

Her husband, Robert O Peterson, who died in 1994, founded the Jack in the Box fast food chain and also founded a bank. The charitable foundation he founded went broke in 2009. O’Connor took money from it between Sep 2008 and Mar 2009.

She was San Diego’s first female mayor, and served from 1986 to 1992.

Under the terms of her deal with the prosecution, she will undergo treatment for gambling addiction.