From USC Football Star to International Drug Kingpin

Owen Hanson’s story began at USC, where he was a blue-collar student surrounded by wealthy classmates.

He initially played volleyball, but after being redshirted, he looked for a fast way to become stronger. That led him to Tijuana, where he bought performance-enhancing drugs and smuggled them back across the border.

The drugs transformed his body so dramatically that a USC strength coach convinced him to try out for football.

Despite never having played organized football, Hanson reportedly ran a 4.64-second 40-yard dash, recorded a 37-inch vertical, and bench-pressed 225 pounds 26 times.

Two weeks later, he made the USC football team.

From Athlete to Dealer

Other athletes noticed Hanson's transformation and began asking him for steroids.

Soon fraternity students were requesting Adderall and other drugs.

Eventually, Hanson moved into cocaine.

He says he initially viewed it as a temporary hustle to keep up with the wealthy lifestyle around USC. But the economics were hard to ignore.

He could reportedly buy cocaine for around $20 per gram and sell it for roughly $60.

When eight ounces sold out within hours at his fraternity house, Hanson realized he had found an unusually profitable market.

Still, after graduating in 2005, he walked away.

Through USC connections, he landed a legitimate six-figure job with a real-estate developer.

For a while, his illegal life appeared finished.

Then the financial crisis hit.

Hanson was laid off.

Becoming the Bookie

While working in real estate, Hanson had watched wealthy contractors place huge sports bets through bookmakers.

After losing his job, he decided to enter that business.

A bookmaker connected to his father initially gave Hanson 20% of his customers’ losses.

Then Hanson found a whale who reportedly lost $1 million in six months.

Hanson quickly realized he wanted to become the house himself.

He traveled to Costa Rica, learned how offshore sportsbook operations worked, and created Bet O-Dog.

The business grew rapidly.

Hanson says his customers eventually included wealthy businessmen, professional athletes and celebrities.

But one gambler would completely change the direction of his life.

The Cartel Connection

A customer from Mexico started gambling enormous amounts.

According to Hanson, the man lost around:

• $250,000 the first week

• $250,000 the second

• $240,000 the third

When the customer finally won, Hanson paid him immediately.

That earned his trust.

Soon Hanson received an encrypted BlackBerry and learned that the gambler was connected to a cartel.

The man offered Hanson 10% to move cash around the United States.

The first $100,000 delivery reportedly earned Hanson $10,000 almost instantly.

Then the amounts grew.

Eventually, Hanson was asked to collect $1 million in Brownsville, Texas, an area described as rival territory.

He chartered a private plane, hired security, picked up the cash and says he earned roughly $75,000 in a single day.

Then came an even bigger question:

“How would you like to make a million dollars a day?”

$1 Million a Day in Australia

The cartel had cocaine sitting in Australia and needed someone to sell it.

Hanson found an international buyer.

His first major transaction reportedly earned him around $500,000.

The next earned approximately $1 million.

Soon he says he was doing deals Monday through Friday.

At one point, Hanson found himself sitting in a Sydney apartment with approximately $10 million in cash, storing money in cabinets, suitcases, the microwave and even the dishwasher.

Now he faced a new problem:

How do you get millions of dollars out of Australia?

Losing $3.2 Million of Cartel Money

Hanson connected with a professional gambler who offered to move the cash through casinos for a 25% fee.

The first transaction reportedly worked.

Then Hanson trusted him with $2.5 million.

Hours later, the gambler claimed almost all of it was gone.

He said he had gambled the money away.

Only about $300,000 remained.

Then another $700,000 was seized from Hanson's personal trainer by Australian police.

In less than 24 hours, Hanson says he had lost approximately $3.2 million belonging to the cartel.

Worse, the gambler began cooperating with authorities.

Phones were tapped.

Investigators were closing in.

And Hanson still had to explain the missing money.

The Meeting in Mexico

Hanson was summoned to Mexico.

He arrived expecting that he might be killed.

Instead, the cartel boss gave him what Hanson described as good news and bad news.

The good news:

He wasn't going to die.

The bad news:

His $3.2 million debt was now $4 million with interest.

And he now worked for the cartel.

Hanson eventually spent more than a year paying the debt back.

After finally repaying the $4 million, he had an opportunity to walk away.

He didn't.

By then, Hanson says the money, adrenaline and lifestyle had become addictive.

The Federal Case

Hanson later worked with people he believed were sophisticated money launderers.

He golfed with them, drank with them and treated them as friends.

Meanwhile, federal authorities were building a case involving drugs, illegal gambling and money laundering.

Eventually his lawyer warned him that prosecutors were preparing something much larger:

A RICO case.

Hanson couldn't believe it.

He remembered thinking:

“Mob? I'm a school kid from USC.”

Federal prosecutors saw him differently.

Hanson refused to cooperate against the cartel.

In 2015, he says he received a 21-year federal prison sentence.

Prison Changed Everything

Hanson also faced possible prosecution in Australia.

Years later, however, he agreed to testify against an attorney accused of corruption in connection with the Australian investigation.

That cooperation reportedly eliminated his potential life sentence there and later helped support a reduction of his U.S. sentence.

While incarcerated, Hanson earned degrees, taught other prisoners and even found another business idea.

He figured out how to make high-protein frozen desserts using prison ingredients.

He started selling them to inmates for approximately $15 each.

After leaving prison for a halfway house, a friend convinced him the idea could become legitimate.

That eventually became California Ice Protein, a high-protein frozen treat sold through gyms and nutrition stores.

The Real Lesson

The most fascinating part of Hanson's story isn't that he suddenly decided to become an international criminal.

He didn't.

It happened gradually.

Steroids became pills.

Pills became cocaine.

Cocaine became bookmaking.

Bookmaking became money laundering.

Money laundering became working with a cartel.

Each step made the next one feel slightly more normal.

Eventually, the same young man who had once been terrified carrying drugs across the Tijuana border was sitting in Australia surrounded by $10 million in cash.

That's perhaps the biggest lesson in the story:

Life-changing mistakes aren't always one giant decision. Sometimes they're hundreds of small decisions that slowly move the line until you can no longer see it.

Watch the video here at the Matthew Cox Youtube Channel