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Maureen O'Conner, former mayor of San Diego has had a gambling addiction for the past nine years, having won and lost 1 billion dollars. Initially, she went through her personal funds to support her addiction by liquidated her savings, selling real estate holdings, auctioning valuables and taking out a third mortgage. When she needed more to keep up with her habits, she embezzled over two million dollars from her late husband's foundation, in which she was a member of the board of trustees.
In court, O'Conner's attorney defended the case by stating that she had a stroke and tumor growing in her brain in 2011, which impaired her judgement to make proper decisions. The court ruled that she would pay the foundation back its two million dollars, pay owed taxes and get treatment for her addiction. If she fulfills the conditions of this deferred prosecution, the court will drop the prosecution in two years.
In this case, is it ethical that O'Conner was let off so easily due to her health condition? Her gambling habits were from nine years ago, long before her stroke. The foundation was a supporter of various philanthropies such as City of Hope, the Alzheimer's Association, Sharp Healthcare, Little Wishes Foundation, San Diego Hospice and the John Burton Foundation. Due to her actions, the foundation allegedly went bankrupt and many people may have been negatively impacted. I think that the court let her off too easy without any repercussions. However, it will be interesting to see how she manages to fulfill the conditions of her deferred prosecution since she has depleted her funds and is unable to work due to her medical conditions.
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