Kriti Mehrotra
Born into a middle-class blue-collar household in the 1980s in Redondo Beach, California, Owen Hanson was just a young boy when he realized the significance of money and success. Therefore, that’s what he chased without any care for the rules once he grew older, ultimately resulting in him evolving into a narcotics kingpin with an empire spanning several continents. Whether it be South America, Central America, the United States, or Australia, he had left his mark everywhere, but things turned upside down following his federal arrest in the fall of 2015.
How Did Owen Hanson Earn His Money?
It was back when Owen Hanson was proudly attending the University of Southern California as a former volleyball team member turned football athlete that he kickstarted his career. He was actually booted from the former despite having played his entire life after being told his vertical jump as well as his hitting arm were just not good enough, driving him to try steroids. A friend had suggested that he could go to the “veterinary” in Mexico if he wanted to beef up, which is precisely what he did in an effort to be what he believed was the best version of himself.
That’s how Owen found himself with a wrestler-like physique, which soon enabled him to try out and be picked for the football team even though he had never played the sport before. The youngster never hid the fact that he was taking performance-enhancing drugs, so it led him to deal them as well. According to his accounts, his list of clients included several professional athletes. Little did he know this would gradually propel him to deal in recreational drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy too, only for it to be so profitable he would continue even after graduation.
As per records, Owen initially moved back to his hometown with dreams of establishing a name for himself in the world of real estate, but things changed when the recession hit in 2008. By this point, he was already feeling financially left behind since several of his peers were making millions upon being drafted by the NFL, so he decided to launch an illegal sports betting enterprise. He had admittedly heard how much money was involved in this industry, driving him to make use of the connections and nickname (ODog) he had garnered over the years to build BetODog.
Owen operated BetODog out of Costa Rica for a while, taking bets on every sport from the NBA to the NFL to the NHL, all the while also still dabbling in the drug trade due to its lucrativeness. The latter venture actually remained on the down low, that is, until it turned out one of his gambling associates was a member of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel and looking to expand their business. That’s how he ended up moving cartel cash across California before it snowballed to an international level and started including wholesale drug trafficking as well as money laundering too.
Owen even briefly relocated to Sydney, Australia, where he handled the cartel’s cocaine trade until he caught the attention of local police, following which he left the city and country for good. Nevertheless, he continued doing business there with a new route as well as new associates, especially considering that a kilo of this drug there was worth eight times more than in the US at the time. Therefore, according to his own accounts, there was a time he was making over $1 million a day, enabling him to clear all his past cartel debt while also enjoying a life of complete luxury.
However, Owen’s luck changed leading up to the mid-2010s as a former associate turned into an FBI informant, resulting in his arrest on several federal counts on September 9, 2015. He was ascertained to be the “leader of the violent” O-Dog racketeering enterprise that was involved in international gambling, money laundering, and drug trafficking from 2012 onwards. Thus, in late 2017, he was sentenced to 21⅓ years in federal prison, which is when he knew it was high time for him to turn over a new leaf. So, when Australian officials approached him to be a star witness against one of his former associates in exchange for a reduced sentence, he didn’t hesitate.
Owen was reportedly released from federal prison into a halfway house to learn how to settle back into society in March 2024, from where he was discharged for good on June 26, 2025. Since then, he has evolved into a legitimate author, entrepreneur, and public figure who is determined to move on from the past without hiding any aspect of it so as to inspire others. He is the co-author of his 2024 biography ‘The California Kid: From USC Golden Boy to International Drug Kingpin,’ and he owns-operates his own protein-based ice cream brand, California Ice Protein. Moreover, he is an inspirational speaker who is proudly leading the No Excuses fitness movement.
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Owen Hanson’s Net Worth
Since Owen Hanson was a notable drug kingpin known as the Cocaine Quarterback at one point in time, it goes without saying that he had managed to accumulate significant wealth for himself. In fact, he was in such a position that he could go on indulgent shopping sprees or luxury trips whenever he wanted, all the while also splurging on friends, partying a lot, and owning several properties across the globe. As per the aforementioned documentary series, he admittedly even had a lavish collection of watches as well as vehicles, and he had transformed his childhood home into a massive, greige mansion with $2,000 bottles of tequila on nearly every surface.
Owen asserted in the show that he indeed made over $1 million a day on good days, but his standing completely changed after his arrest, as his sentence included criminal forfeiture. In other words, he was ordered to forfeit over $5 million, including $100,000 in gold as well as silver coins, his sailboat, businesses, watch collection, Porsche Panamera, two Range Rovers, and homes in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru. Therefore, taking into account all these aspects, along with his former lifestyle of drug abuse, his newly established endeavors, his public standing, his likely assets, investments, and returns, we believe Beverly Hills resident Owen has a net worth of close to $2 million.
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