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Health See other Health Articles Title: Ex-Mayor Blames $1 Billion Gambling Binge on Depression, Tumor Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor has admitted to taking $2.1 million from her late husband's foundation during a decade-long gambling binge that she attributed to depression and the effects of a brain tumor. She was estimated to have won and lost more than $1 billion through gambling. O'Connor, 66, pleaded not guilty in federal court to one count of money laundering as part of an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department. The agreement will defer prosecution for two years, giving O'Connor a chance to pay back the money and get treatment for her gambling addiction. In a news conference, O'Connor acknowledged that she took the money, but she said she "always intended to pay it back." O'Connor's attorney, Eugene Iredale, said that in 2011 the former mayor was diagnosed with a tumor, which affected the portion of her brain "that controls logic and reasoning and, most important, judgment." O'Connor has since had the tumor removed. "There are two Maureens -- Maureen No. 1 and Maureen No. 2," said O'Connor during the news conference. "Maureen No. 2 is the Maureen who did not know she had a tumor growing in her brain." The U.S. attorney's office cited O'Connor's medical condition as one reason for the deferred prosecution agreement. "Maureen O'Connor was a selfless public official who contributed much to the well-being of San Diego," said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. "However, no figure, regardless of how much good they've done or how much they've given to charity, can escape criminal liability with impunity." Dr. Joshua Bederson, the head and chairman of the neurosurgery department Mt. Sinai in New York, said O'Connor's claim of her gambling addiction being a symptom of her brain tumor is uncommon but possible. "Since we know there are brain areas that are responsible [for the assessment of risk and reward], it is conceivable that some sort of disturbance caused by a brain tumor could influence those functions, as well," said Bederson, who has not worked with O'Connor. (snip) The former mayor, who served from 1986 to 1992 as San Diego's first female mayor, said she started to gamble after the death of two siblings and her husband, Jack in the Box founder Robert Peterson. Poster Comment: I shouldn't laugh at this, but I did anyway. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Dakmar (#0)
"There was a rumor about a tumor nestled at the base of his brain." - Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, "The Ballad of Charles Whitman." Well, close enough. "Have Brain, Will Travel
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