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From Bad Things On The Streets: To Healthy Treats: The Owen Hanson Story · Nightmare Success In and Out

0:01
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:04
Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
0:07
Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
0:10
nightmares that set yourself free.
0:13
We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
0:15
Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
0:20
These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad.
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There's some humor, but hopefully you can come away with
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a nugget of something that'll help you knock down some of the
0:28
prisons you built up in your own mind.
0:32
All right, welcome back and your success in and out, listeners.
0:37
It's about where you come for what happens when your worst
0:39
fear becomes your reality. How do you adapt, survive,
0:41
overcome, set yourself free? Hey, folks, don't forget to
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follow. Subscribe.
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Like this thing out. Like it up, share it out.
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It helps the show. It really actually does help the
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show and I appreciate that. So who we talking to today?
0:57
Well, I want to get a big shout out to Matt Boyer who connected
1:01
Owen Hanson and me. And so I'm I'm interviewing the
1:04
California kid and I have been so looking forward to this
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interview because it's an incredible story.
1:12
Anybody who likes comeback stories, anybody like second
1:15
chance stuff, anybody who likes creativity, entrepreneurship,
1:21
this is it, this is it. And I'm going to give you a
1:25
little bit from Owen Hansen's book, the summary, because I
1:31
think I was looking at I've been looking at all these stuff, but
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I thought this was just a great encapsulation of what his his
1:38
story, how what we're going to get into it says the surfer kid
1:41
from California, Owen Hansen was still in his 20s when he found
1:46
himself the leader of a multi $1,000,000 criminal empire
1:49
empire. What began as an attempt to fit
1:52
in with the rich kids at the University of Southern
1:54
California soon grew into gambling and loan sharking,
1:58
which then opened the door to drug trafficking and money
2:01
laundering. Hansen wasn't just involved in
2:04
this stuff, he excelled at it. Living the fast-paced lifestyle
2:09
of the rich and famous, Hansen was finally gaining the respect
2:13
he craved. With the cartel, a serious drug
2:17
abuse problem, and the pursuit of the FBI all threatening to
2:20
overtake him, it wouldn't be long before his glamorous
2:23
lifestyle caught up with him. Wow, wow.
2:28
Well, I I want to. I can't wait to jump into all
2:32
this and unpack it. Before we do, I want to
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Auto Plaza Direct telling Brent from Nightmare Success sent you
3:13
Owen Hanson. Welcome in, my man.
3:15
How are you? Good.
3:16
How you doing Brett? Thanks for having me.
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Well, I, you've got such an incredible story and I, I have
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been all over your YouTube and everything else that you got
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going on. It's, it's fascinated me.
3:32
You, you are currently in the halfway house.
3:34
You've got about 30. Well, you got less than 30 days
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now I think it's June 26th. But in the process of all that
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you have, when you talk about going to prison, you know, this
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goes into 1100 prisons. So everybody's in prison
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thinking, Oh my God, what am I going to do when I get out?
3:54
What, what's life going to be like when I get out?
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And you created a protein ice cream.
4:02
It's now California ice protein that's getting ready to launch
4:06
all over the place. And you did it right there in
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prison. You've got a video of it.
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People go to YouTube, check out Owen Hanson and look at this
4:14
thing because it's all the cool. And then and then it, it morphs
4:18
into all the cool stuff that he's got with, with all the
4:22
marketing and the point of sale stuff that he's that it's all
4:24
being done right now. But you know, I was thinking to
4:28
let's go back, let's go back before all this took place, you
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know, because you were saying Owen, and it's all throughout,
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you know, your storyline, you were just trying to fit in.
4:39
It's trying to fit in, trying to be that guy that fit in with the
4:42
rich kids and stuff. Take us back.
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What was your life like as a kid growing up?
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Mom, Dad, I would give Liz. Brick I was just a surfer kid
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from Redondo Beach, man. I played beach volleyball.
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My dad was a construction worker and I grew up, you know, as a
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junior lifeguard surfing in, in the, in the South Bay and, you
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know, playing volleyball and, and trying to be that, that next
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Sinjin Smith or Karts Karai. And I'm not going to lie, I, I,
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I enjoyed life back then as a kid, living that just easy life.
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And then I remember getting recruited to, to USC and, and I,
5:22
I took that scholarship offer and I, I, I finally arrived on
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campus and I just couldn't be believe all the wealth that was
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around me, something I've never seen as a, as a son of a
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construction worker. Well, I can't either.
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I can't because I mean, there is a tremendous amount of wealth.
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I, I know people who have gone there, their, their kids have
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gone there. But you, I mean, you were
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rolling in as kind of the cool kid, though.
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I mean, you're, you're a surfer dude from, from California.
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So you get into one of the best fraternities.
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What are you? Are you are you thinking this is
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like imposter syndrome or, or do you start kind of fitting
6:11
yourself in? No, I just thought, you know it,
6:14
it's I'm going to USC to make the connections.
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I'm going there, obviously play sports and I'm going to make the
6:20
best out of it. And I was really excited.
6:22
I'm not going to lie, I was, I was so excited.
6:26
But by the time I started to see everyone around me, you know,
6:29
with their daddy's American Express black card and their
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BMWs and Mercedes, I was like, man, I do not belong here.
6:37
You know, it's just that life of, of trying to fit in,
6:40
basically. And, and, you know, eventually I
6:43
made the football team, won a couple of national
6:45
championships. And now I'm around all these,
6:48
these famous football players and, and they're going to the
6:51
NFL. And Long story short, you're
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just trying to fit in. Now you, you're around your
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fraternity brothers that are millionaires and you're, you're
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around your, your teammates that are all going in the NFL.
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So it's like, where am I going to fit into this this equation?
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So what happens next? So what happens is I, I, you
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know, I get that great job working a nine to five for USC
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alumni, making six figures my first couple years out.
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And then the recession hits and I remember I was, I was so
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bummed out, you know, I went to USC to make those connections.
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And now all of a sudden I'm out of a job.
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And so I had to go back and, and I tell my dad, listen, man, I
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lost my job. What do I do?
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And, you know, eventually I, I went to my father and begged him
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to, to meet his, his Italian friend that was a bookmaker.
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And my dad didn't want to make that introduction, but I, I
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handled it. And from there we, we blew this
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thing out of the water. You know, I became the biggest
7:53
bookmaker in the United States at at one point taking bets from
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a list, celebrities, professional athletes, you know,
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it, it was the, it was a hell of a life.
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And and eventually I started taking bets from the cartel.
8:07
But you didn't really know that you were taking bets from the
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cartel. What I mean, the way I
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understand it, it just it was one of those weird things
8:15
though, where you just kind of fell into it.
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The guy's betting a lot of money.
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He's losing one day he gets he gets a big hit and you want to
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make sure that you pay him because that's what the good
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bookies do. They pay on Monday.
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And he makes a connection with you like, hey, I'd like to I'd
8:39
like to do and know more about you and see if you might be, is
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that kind of how it happened? Yeah, he, he, he couldn't
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believe I paid him on a Monday and he was so impressed the way
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I ran my business. He, he wanted to do business
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with me. It's funny how that works.
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It is. And as as an ambitious kid,
8:56
Brent, I'm not going to lie, I, I wanted to do anything I could
9:01
to please these VIP customers. And, and that's what I did.
9:07
I became his, you know, his concierge for handling his
9:11
logistics of his money in the United States.
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And next thing you know that that thing snowballed and I'm
9:15
trafficking tons of cocaine into Australia for him.
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I, I was listening to this story on another deal and I, I, it's,
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it's kind of crazy because you, you, you always wonder like, how
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does somebody get into this? You know, and you were good.
9:33
The, the, the fascinating thing is I want you, you were always
9:36
good with numbers. You were always, you know, from
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early on. I mean, you could figure out
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numbers, which makes a lot of sense on why this the the sports
9:45
bookie thing work. But I'm just wondering, like
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somebody tells you, hey, go pick up, I think.
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Or was it just deliver like $1,000,000?
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Did that freak you out? Because like in the movies, if
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you get set up or something like that, you don't know very much
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about it. I mean, the first thought on my
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mind is, is I'm going to get my head blown off.
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I'm, I'm, I'm going to get taken.
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I'm going to take, take it off. What goes through your mind on
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with somebody says, Hey, I'd like for you to go deliver
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$1,000,000 over here and wherever?
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Yeah, You know, you got to remember I was 24 years old and
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I was ambitious and I had some big balls.
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Print some big ones and I said the guy was paying me 10% so if
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I'm picking up $1,000,000 for him and he's paying me 10% I'm
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making 100 grand in the day. Who can say they made 100 grand
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in the day at 20? 4 It's a lot.
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And you got to remember, I kept thinking about my father working
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that 9 to 5 sitting on the four O 5 every day of his life and
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and, you know, barely having enough to to pay the mortgage.
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So I just just said, you know what, that's not the life of me.
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And I'm ambitious and I'm going to, I'm going to become an
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entrepreneur and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get to the
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top. And then you get in with him, he
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likes what you're doing, and then he just throws out, hey, do
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you know anybody in Australia? Pretty much, yeah.
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He, he did some research on me and he realized that I was so,
11:13
so well connected in the US. He figured, let's utilize this
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guy over, over, down, down under.
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And sure, sure enough, that's what I did that I, I figured out
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a way to get over there and figured out a way to do what he
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asked. Which is crazy because I mean,
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you just happen to have, I think an aunt or somebody that was in
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and down under Australia, which is kind of crazy because it's
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around the world and this thing all takes off you.
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You've got pounds of money that you've got, you don't know what
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to, you don't know really how to get rid of it because I mean,
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you've got millions of dollars. I'm, I'm thinking about this
11:51
thing like all of a sudden you're in a different country,
11:55
different continent and, and you've, you've got this
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apartment and you've got probably, I don't know how much
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that stuff weighs. What is it like 5070 lbs and of
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money and you got to figure out what to do with it?
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Yeah, I actually had about 10 million in cash that's.
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A lot. It's a lot of cash.
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Yeah, and I had to start cleaning it for the guy and that
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was why he sent me over there. He wanted me to, to move this
12:18
money like I move the money for him in the US And you know, I
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never make excuses Sprint. I always figure out a way of in
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life. I don't care if my back's
12:29
against the wall. I I will always figure out a
12:33
way. That's my kind of my go to.
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Like everyone says, man, you, you always figure out a way.
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You're the most resilient guy we've ever met.
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So I I figured out a way and I started laundering this money
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and eventually I I started laundering it through the
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casinos and unfortunately the guy that was laundering it
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through the casinos ended up losing 2.5 million of the
12:54
cartels money. Which was a bad day.
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I mean, he, he, he calls you and says, hey, I'm down to what,
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$300,000? Can you bring me some more cash?
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And you're like, holy shit. Yeah, he he he he then called
13:09
the cops the same day because he was so stressed out and he
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reported that we had a a weapon on us at it.
13:17
One of my runners got caught with a bag of 700,000.
13:19
There was no weapon we were in violent but he caught him with
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700,000. So that same day in 24 hours of
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lost 3 point 3.2 million of the cartels money.
13:29
So now what happens? I want when that happens.
13:32
Man, you got to, you got to face the music right.
13:35
You got to do the right thing because growing up with my
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father, he taught me one thing. You, you, you always pay back
13:41
your debts. And you know, I, I had morals
13:46
and ethics and I, I, I went to Mexico and met this boss from
13:50
Mexico and I told him, listen, I lost your money and I'm
13:52
responsible. I told him it wasn't me.
13:54
But I, I put my face on the on the line here and I'm going to
13:57
pay you back. And he says he told me, don't
14:00
worry, you don't owe me 3.2 million.
14:02
You owe me 4 million now. And you work for the cartel.
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And that's when I knew my date, my, my life was over, Brad, I
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just said, you know what? At least I'm alive.
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So I got, I got that going for me.
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And you know what? I'm I'm going to do the right
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thing because that's what you're supposed to do in life.
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Did you think, Owen, because I, you know, thinking about this
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story, losing that money, you see these movies with the mafia,
14:28
the cartel, did you think when you were going down there to
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meet with the boss that that might just be it?
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You were done. You were actually, they just
14:37
took you to the river and there goes Owen.
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He's gone. Yeah, there.
14:42
There was that part. But there's also that part
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saying, you know what, If I hide here in the US, he's going to
14:48
find me and I'm going to be looking over my shoulder.
14:50
And I told myself, I remember driving my car down to the
14:53
Tijuana border. I told myself, you know what,
14:55
I'm going to face the music. So at least if he's going to
14:57
kill me, he's going to do it right in front of my face,
14:59
right? And then I don't have to worry
15:01
about looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.
15:04
It's a lot to think about. How old would you have been when
15:07
you had that meeting? I think it was about 2026 years
15:11
old at that time. Wow.
15:14
OK, so he says you're part of us now.
15:17
How does life change for you going forward?
15:21
Well, I'm, I'm now quarterbacking and working for
15:23
the most infamous cartel in the world at the time.
15:26
And you know, I'm just just figuring it out, right?
15:30
Like I got to figure out a way to get this product now into
15:33
Australia. I'm using every contact I have,
15:36
every kind of route I have. I'm getting creative.
15:39
I'm still running the sports book business because, you know,
15:42
we got to look, look like I'm doing something legit and not
15:45
not working as a kingpin in Australia.
15:48
So business as usual, man. I just kept grinding, working my
15:52
my construction job sites, developing homes, running the
15:55
sports book and in moonlighting this this Australia trip.
16:02
So it works. I mean, I, I, you've got all
16:05
kinds of various things you're doing, you're, you're using wine
16:08
bottles, which I've never even seen anything like that before.
16:11
I mean, how in the hell did you think of that to, to, to put and
16:16
take, take what was $150.00 a bottle wine bottle.
16:20
And that's how you ended up taking that cocaine and and
16:24
sending it across the world. Where the hell did that come
16:28
from? I was ingenious.
16:30
But like what? It happened one day when I met
16:34
my my mate in Australia and we are, we are, we are in this,
16:37
this island in Fiji and we are just, I said, mate, we got to
16:41
figure out a way to get it in. And I said I'm responsible.
16:45
And I remember we, we poured each other some, some white wine
16:49
and I looked up and I was like, that's it wine.
16:52
I said I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to break the wine
16:54
down and, and turn it into liquid for I'm going to, I'm
16:56
going to break the cocaine down into liquid form.
17:00
And he says if you can pull that off, I'll be able to get a
17:04
chemist in Australia to turn it back into powder form.
17:07
So that's what I did with it. Unbelievable.
17:11
The other place that you had that I thought was brilliant was
17:14
you've got chocolate chocolate delivery trucks in New Jersey
17:19
and they just become a distributor for you where all
17:22
the places you needed to go and he gets a cut off the deal.
17:25
But how did you get connected to the chocolate guy?
17:29
Man, USC connections, baby, you got to use this.
17:34
He was a SAE actually at USC the same time I was, and he was
17:38
involved in the logistics business.
17:39
His family had a chocolate company from the UK.
17:43
So I offered him 50,000 cash and I said, listen, I got an offer
17:46
you can't refuse. I'm going to give you 50,000
17:48
cash every month. All I need is your expired
17:50
chocolate. Who says no to 50,000 cash?
17:55
Made him an offer you could refuse.
17:57
So the the I I thought the next step of this thing was was also
18:03
interesting. You thought, why don't I use a
18:06
sailboat? Why don't I use a catamaran?
18:09
Guy owes me money. How does that all work out?
18:14
Listen, I take any kind of payment I can and the guy owed
18:17
me some money on the, on the sports book and he didn't have
18:20
cash. So I took his catamaran, I
18:21
transferred it over and then I started using that catamaran to,
18:27
to basically transport the cocaine from, from Mexico into
18:30
the US waters into Newport Beach.
18:33
And you know, it saved, saved me on my prices.
18:37
I got the prices down because the transportation just from
18:40
Tijuana across the border is $3000 a kilo.
18:43
So when you're, you're bringing, you know, between 80 to 100
18:48
about, you know, 80 to 100 kilos, you're, you're saving,
18:51
you know, 22140, you know, let's see 3 * 82140.
18:56
To and Owen, your whole thing was is I'm thinking I got to pay
18:58
back. I got to pay back if I can if I
19:00
can squeeze the margins. Yeah, I'm using every nickel and
19:04
dime I can save and it's going towards my tab.
19:07
And this captain, he thinks that you're you're smuggling and and
19:13
illegal. And and so you actually do
19:16
smother, you do do the smuggle on illegal, but just one.
19:20
One time I just, I just did it. I just did it so he didn't have
19:24
to worry about the big load that was underneath, right?
19:27
And I brought that illegal and he thought he was just
19:29
transporting an illegal, but little did he know I had 80
19:32
bricks in the bottom of the boat.
19:35
And is this the same guy that also learned how to fly and
19:38
pilot or is that a different? Guy, Yeah, no, it's the same guy
19:41
I just got to get. I got a pilot license to Start
19:44
learning to fly a Cessna that I was purchasing, and we're going
19:47
to start transporting it through the the air.
19:52
And it and that worked. Yeah, of course it worked.
19:56
Everything I did work. All right, so.
20:01
This is all going on. You're living, you're living the
20:04
life, you're making money, you're paying back El Hefe.
20:07
And when's the nightmare start? The might the nightmare started
20:16
the day that guy lost the money. He got so scared that he lost
20:19
the money, he went to the feds and he, he, he made a deal with
20:24
them and, and was granted immunity to tell him what he did
20:28
for me and how he is part of this money laundering scheme.
20:32
And then he started working for him in the next 4 years.
20:35
You know, they were surveillancing me throughout,
20:38
you know, my journey, you know, paying back.
20:40
They'll have a running my sports book and it was just a matter of
20:44
time. Brent.
20:45
I knew they were there. I watched them in the, the rear
20:48
view window windows. I saw them in the Verizon vans
20:52
in front of the house. I I just kept saying to myself,
20:55
I got to pay these guys in Mexico back.
20:58
That was your biggest priority, that was.
21:00
Well. Hopefully you had like the clock
21:03
was ticking. Can I make enough money to pay
21:06
these guys back? I don't know what's going to
21:07
happen to me over here, but these feds are after me.
21:10
Can I squeeze dollars to get these guys paid?
21:15
Exactly. So what's what?
21:19
When does it all come down? You, you've been surveilled for
21:21
four years, which is it's a crazy way to live is, you know,
21:27
I, I went through a six year investigation with the feds.
21:29
It wasn't secret. It's all out in the open, but it
21:32
was six years. But knowing that you, they're on
21:35
you, how do you, I guess the best question is how do you live
21:40
your life with that? Lot of drugs, a lot of drinking,
21:44
a lot of partying, just to just to get my mind off of it, right?
21:49
You just, you're just trying to just the anxieties through the
21:53
roof. So you're just doing anything
21:54
and everything. I'd be golfing with Matt Boyer
21:56
and I'd be popping Xanax and Vicodin and drinking margaritas
22:00
at 6:30 in the morning. You know, it was a terrible way
22:05
to live. And it was just unbearable for
22:08
me to to know that I had both the the cartel and and the FBI
22:14
breathing down my neck. That's two big heavy weights.
22:20
I mean, the federal government, the United States of America,
22:23
bring it down your neck is is the a weight that no one knows
22:26
what it feels like, but to have the cartel on that together with
22:31
the two of them, I can't imagine.
22:34
So when does it? When does the takedown happen
22:36
for you? I, I went to go to go handle a
22:40
transaction with these guys I was dealing with in the, the
22:44
money wiring business and, and I go to the golf course and it
22:48
ended up being the, the money laundering guys were actually
22:51
the feds. So they, they set up a sting
22:54
where there is, you know, 15 undercover FBI agents at the
22:57
golf course in a helicopter in the sky and Australia
23:01
authorities were there to arrest me.
23:02
And that was the day was finally over.
23:04
Man. It was the the the best, to be
23:06
honest, the biggest relief of my life.
23:09
You you were relieved because you there it had all happened
23:14
and. Yeah, I, I was relieved because
23:16
AI paid back the cartel and B, now I can walk away from the
23:19
game not ever worrying about, you know, owing someone, not
23:23
ever worrying about having to go back and work for them and just
23:26
finally say sayonara to this illegal activity that I got
23:30
involved in. And in the midst of this, too,
23:34
is the feds want, they want information from you which, you
23:38
know, there's two ways to go on that.
23:40
You know, there's always a fork in the road.
23:43
You got very creative on how you talk to them.
23:48
And I, I thought, you know, I mean, one of the guys you talked
23:51
about was he died previously, You know, the other guy.
23:56
It was crazy how you were able to tell on yourself and, and
24:01
keep and, and as we know, when you're talking to the feds, they
24:04
can charge you with a whole nother charge because they can.
24:06
That's how Martha Stewart went to prison.
24:08
She's they said that she lied to the FBI agents, but you, you
24:12
were able to figure out and you were also in custody, if I'm not
24:16
mistaken, Owen, like for a couple of years, right?
24:20
Yeah, I didn't get bail. I was in custody for 2 1/2 years
24:23
fighting this thing. And and like you said, Brad, the
24:26
the government already knows everything before.
24:28
You everything before they ever talked to you, they they've,
24:31
they've done everything they need to know.
24:34
Yeah, you set it down. They have the best lawyers in
24:36
the world work on these cases, you know, and FBI agents are
24:41
every one of them has, you know, a lottery most likely.
24:43
So these guys are no dummies. They know everything about you.
24:48
They know who you've been working with.
24:49
So I just told them straight out I should, I, I cannot talk about
24:54
the cartel. I will be signing death
24:56
certificates for my family. I said I could talk, not talk
25:00
about the people I was doing business with in Italy.
25:02
That's another death certificate.
25:04
I said what? I'll, I'll tell you what I, what
25:07
I'll tell you. And, and you know, I started
25:10
listing these, these people that I was working with in it.
25:13
Like I said, in that big hurricane, if you're referring
25:16
to it was, it was a game of chest.
25:18
I I wasn't lying, I was telling the truth, But at the same time,
25:22
I had to protect myself where I wasn't putting my, my family's
25:27
livelihood at risk. Well, the other thing I thought
25:31
was, was gutsy was is that the cartel was coming in and saying,
25:37
hey, tell them about this guy. Tell them about this guy, tell
25:40
them about this guy. And those were the rival
25:43
families. And that would have been easy to
25:47
do. But you didn't know anything
25:50
about those guys. And then they're going to ask
25:53
you like, where did you meet him?
25:54
Where did you like, what was your, what was your hookup?
25:58
How did you do this? You wouldn't have had been able
26:00
to fill that out. Yeah, and you'd be lying.
26:03
And if you get in and you know the rules, if you're, if you
26:05
felt, if you're found lying and guess what?
26:07
Everything's wiped off the table, right, Right.
26:10
So you, you just tell the the cartel lawyers that are coming
26:13
and bringing you this information.
26:15
Listen, it's not worth it because I don't know anything
26:19
about these guys A&B. If they start asking me
26:21
questions, I'm going to look like a fool because then I'm
26:23
going to lie. And then that's going to take
26:24
away from anything I have in the future.
26:28
And the other guys had already been taken down that you were
26:31
with in Australia. So that you were really trying
26:34
just to get yourself in a position to where and I'm
26:41
assuming at that time that you, and I'm trying to remember the
26:44
story, you had a good attorney. I think you had AI think you had
26:48
a bad attorney and then you got a really good attorney.
26:51
Correct. I had a bad one.
26:52
I fired him and then I hired the the the attorney for the Ariano
26:55
Felix Cartel and he was awesome. He went in there and he says,
26:58
Owen, you just be honest. He says that the catchy line,
27:04
you might as well throw your your plea deal out the window.
27:09
Which would catch your attention.
27:12
Yeah, they know. So you get him, you get, you get
27:16
the conversations with the FBI. When does it come down a one
27:22
that you're talking about? Time.
27:26
You know, it's, it's, you're looking at a 30 year sentence,
27:29
you know, the mandatory minimum is 10.
27:31
And, and with all these racketeering charges and money
27:34
laundering and this kingpin roll they wanted to give me, you
27:38
know, they, they say this has been offered 30 years.
27:40
And then my lawyer says, well, let's talk about this crooked
27:43
lawyer you had in Australia. And maybe that crooked lawyer,
27:47
you never know, beers down the road could, could benefit you.
27:51
And I didn't think of being it, but I remember this crooked
27:54
lawyer is the one that got me indicted.
27:56
You know, I had wiretaps with him and I talking about telling
28:00
lies to the government. And this is all legal advice
28:03
that my attorney's giving me in Australia.
28:06
And I'm, I'm taking his advice because he's a professional at
28:08
what he does and he's supposed to protect, protect people like
28:12
myself from from going to prison.
28:15
And as soon as they told me I could talk about him, I was
28:17
like, whoa, yeah, yeah, let's let's run this, this, this is
28:20
the guy that that told me to tell lies and, and try to take
28:24
millions of dollars of my money. And I have no problem telling on
28:29
this, this person that represents the court.
28:33
And I remembered I, I, I had these guys fly over from
28:37
Australia to learn about this crooked attorney and didn't do
28:41
me any good. You know, I got sentence to 21
28:43
years Brent. And I was devastated.
28:45
And I remember that next day my attorney saw me and he's like,
28:48
hey, man, I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you.
28:50
He says, but you never know what can happen.
28:53
And I, it clicked in my head like, like, what do you know
28:56
that I don't know? He goes, you never know.
29:00
And for the next, you know, five years, I'm in prison wondering
29:03
like, what does he mean by that? Is, is there someone upstairs
29:06
that's going to come and help me?
29:07
And, and then my, my luck finally came in 2020.
29:12
I got that knock on the door and United States Penitentiary of
29:16
Lompoc and I got extradited to Australia and I, I got to take
29:21
the stand against the crooked lawyer that, that got me
29:24
indicted. And I, I told him the truth.
29:26
I said this man told me to go and lie and tell this story and
29:29
it was all made-up. He told me to go talk to the
29:33
authorities when I told him I didn't want to and he knew this
29:36
was illegal money. He took, took, you know, money
29:39
from my, my, my apartment where I had illegal money.
29:42
And he, he made me wire him money because he, he wanted more
29:46
money out of me. And, and this guy's he's, he's a
29:49
crook. And the government in Australia
29:52
was able to prove that he was, he was representing me, you
29:56
know, ineffective counsel we call here in the US.
30:00
And that was my my saving grace, man I.
30:04
Well, I mean that and the other thing that's crazy about that is
30:07
on is is traveling as a prisoner, as a federal prisoner
30:10
is always weird. But you traveled all the way to
30:13
Australia. I had I had a civil trial to go
30:15
to and I was at Leavenworth and went to Saint Louis.
30:18
And the weird thing about traveling, I don't know if this
30:21
will sound incredibly weird to people who haven't done it, but
30:24
you don't know anything. They don't tell you anything.
30:26
You got to tell you, you know, you all the all I got was a
30:29
phone call or not a phone call. Speaker Cassidy and to come to
30:35
the bubble and and then for the next 6 hours I sat in the hole
30:40
and waiting to see what was going to happen next.
30:42
And then I get taken in a van shackled to not knowing exactly
30:47
where I'm going. But I think I'm going to court.
30:49
But. For you, Owen and, and I, I
30:54
wanted to go back to on what you were saying about federal
30:57
charges, because it's the weirdest way that you could go
31:02
into the world on trying to negotiate a plea agreement.
31:05
Because one of the things they do on federal charges is like in
31:10
my white collar case, I was in a, in a federal conspiracy, you
31:13
know, family business, national company insurance.
31:17
And so they, they take a charge like you got a business that's
31:21
been in business for 30 years. OK, So anything you put in the
31:24
mail, that's my that's mail fraud.
31:27
Anything that you wired is wire fraud.
31:30
Anything that you bought now that your business is a crundal
31:33
enterprises is money laundering. So you don't do you can say one
31:38
of those is 20 years, but you can you can stack those and it's
31:42
900 years. And that's what a lot of the you
31:45
know, like I was loaded nine, 938 years because of the way
31:49
that they just took and stacked them all.
31:51
And then they say you want to go to trial.
31:53
Yeah, and it's a scare tactic and it works.
31:56
It works really well. So you get, I want to, I want to
32:02
take a break here because I want to go into what your mindset was
32:06
going in for a 21 year sentence into a federal prison, which I,
32:11
I think was a medium, but I'm not positive about that.
32:14
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sponsored by the White Collar Support Group, the world's first
33:00
support group devoted to people navigating the white collar
33:03
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33:06
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7:00 PM Eastern Time. For more information, go to
33:22
prisonist.org. prisonist.org. So, Owen, you finally get
33:27
everything negotiated out. It's, you know, the whole
33:30
thing's been a nightmare. You've been in jail, I think for
33:32
two years. Which should have. 2 1/2 years
33:36
and as as we all know who've been in both jail's the worst
33:40
place to be in the world. And then you go to prison.
33:46
How does that all go down? How do you get transferred?
33:48
What's your mindset knowing that you've got a 21 year sentence
33:51
walking into a federal prison? My mindset was we're going to
33:56
play this game in quarters just like a basketball game.
33:59
I like that, how you broke up your time.
34:01
Yeah. I broke it up in five years at a
34:03
time when I said my first quarter was finally over and I
34:07
got flown to Australia and I got that, that love when I got back,
34:12
but I got stuck during COVID. So I'm in the second quarter and
34:15
when I'm dying, man, I'm just begging my attorney, like, come
34:19
on, you got to get a hold of these guys.
34:20
What's going on? And no one's making any, any
34:23
movements in the court. As you remember this, the system
34:26
was down for two years. We were locked down and in our
34:29
cells for 23 1/2 hours a day. We got out twice a week to
34:34
shower for 1/2 an hour. And my mind was losing.
34:38
And I started finally and I said, you know what, I finally
34:40
have to start pulling out the pen and paper.
34:43
And that's when I wrote my book, The California Kid.
34:46
And then I was so bored. I said, you know what?
34:49
I'm going back to college. And I, I went back and got my
34:51
master's degree and I did a correspondence with a, a, a
34:55
college out of Santa Ana, CA, which is called California Coast
34:59
University. And I ended up getting my
35:02
master's degree. It took about four years just
35:05
due to the fact I had to write my essays and send them out.
35:08
They had to get graded and come back.
35:10
It was a just a, a nightmare, but it kept my mind sane.
35:14
And then finally when, when we got released from COVID, it was
35:18
like 2022. I, you know, we finally got some
35:22
news in the court that they were going to respond by 2023 most
35:26
likely. And that's when I, I just just
35:30
kept praying every day, you know, you just, you just said,
35:32
come on, man, this I did everything I was supposed to do
35:35
like this. Is there any chance I'm going to
35:37
get some love? And that's when you just
35:40
realize, you know, there is your higher power.
35:42
If you, if you believe in the Lord like myself, you just
35:44
realize, like everything in this, this world happens for a
35:48
reason. And you know, the Lord was
35:51
telling me, you know what, you need to clean up what you're
35:53
doing in life. You need to sober up.
35:55
And I'm going to put you in time out.
35:57
And, you know, obviously he didn't think 21 years was right.
36:03
He, he, he, he looked down on me.
36:06
And the judge granted a 8 1/2 year sentence reduction got me
36:10
down to 12 1/2 years under the first step back and in good
36:15
behavior. I, I earn another 3-4 years off
36:18
with 20 months halfway house. And I knew that I knew there was
36:24
like, OK, there's hope. And then while I was
36:27
incarcerated in Colorado, I just, I said, you know what, I
36:30
just finished my master's degree.
36:31
I need to do something that's that that I can tell about this
36:36
journey and that's when I started this this protein ice
36:38
cream company and I started it in my 6 by 8 prison cell and I
36:43
which. Is a video of that.
36:44
Yeah, there's many videos and I told my my Sally, I said I don't
36:50
care what you have to do, I said.
36:52
But somehow get us the phone. I said I'll, I'll give you an
36:57
ice cream every week until I leave this prison.
37:00
If you can film me making this stuff.
37:01
I said this is content that's priceless.
37:05
And he's like, you're crazy. He ended up paying a guard, I
37:07
believe $5000 for a phone. And I remember him making this
37:12
content of me. I was so nervous.
37:14
I was like, man, just just film me making it in the mop bucket.
37:17
I'm going to make it every week and just just do some more
37:19
filming so we can piece this thing together and we'll put it
37:22
on a Google Drive and get it out of this.
37:24
Well, the other thing about this was, is that first of all, you
37:28
ran across this thing, you put the ice, rock, ice stuff that on
37:33
the top of it. Rock salt.
37:35
Rock salt, I called it rock ice, rock salt and you went down you
37:40
and it hit because it was you were kind of making a protein.
37:43
Were you making a protein shake originally?
37:45
Yeah, originally it was just protein shakes and they were,
37:48
they were getting cold, but that's about it.
37:50
And then my Sally told me, you know, if you want to make it
37:52
colder, you just put some rock salt on it.
37:55
And then I came back from my workout and the thing was
37:57
frozen. And I was like, wait a minute,
37:58
here, this is no good. He goes, Nah, just try it, man.
38:01
And I took a spoon to it and it was like protein ice cream.
38:03
I said this is insane. Well, it was and it tasted good.
38:08
And then the, the thing that I thought was fantastic, because
38:13
there's a such a thing as being prison rich and prison with
38:16
stamps. And, you know, some people are
38:19
charging, you know, 5 stands for chicken patties or two stands
38:24
for a soda. You decide that you're going to,
38:29
well, you, you first let your workout partners try it out to
38:31
make sure that everybody says it's cool and it's good.
38:34
And you said, I'm thinking $15, I'm thinking $15 on this.
38:39
And they say, yeah, yeah, that'll work.
38:41
And you start you start on I mean you start taking these
38:46
pre-orders and taking 1515 dollars in prison is a lot.
38:51
Because I think in our prison I think the the prison jobs went
38:55
from like $4.00 and then $96 like if you worked at the food
38:59
warehouse or something. But.
39:00
Yeah, and you're working. You were making you were making
39:04
like 200 and some odd dollars a week.
39:07
Yeah, I remember. I remember 1 Super Bowl we, I
39:11
made more money than the guards that week because I, and that
39:18
was my claim to fame. I said, man, I'm making more
39:20
money than the guards this week. You know, I I sold like 50 ice
39:23
cream. Well, the other thing that was
39:25
good about it is is you were you were using the stuff that you
39:28
could buy from the commissary. So you, even if you get hit, you
39:32
know, obviously the mob buck is not supposed to be used and that
39:35
kind of stuff, but it's generally accepted unless you
39:39
get caught. And then it depends on what if
39:40
the person wants to make anything out of it.
39:42
But you know, the peanut butter, the, I mean, you probably had to
39:46
get some extra banana from the, from the kitchen.
39:48
But all that generally was, was stuff that you were getting from
39:52
the commissary, which I and I, I do know that you got hit and
39:55
they, they took all your, your stamps and took it all and it
39:59
was quite a hit, but you went back and figured it out.
40:04
Yeah, it's part of doing business, just kind of like
40:05
that. I lost that 3.2 million.
40:07
You you figure out a way to get it back and you keep going.
40:10
No excuses. OK, so you think you've got this
40:13
is what I wanted to get into Owen, You think you've got
40:16
something like it's good and protein.
40:20
I can prove it right. Now there it is and I, I want,
40:24
this is what I want to talk about you.
40:26
A lot of people create, and there's another guy that I
40:29
advertise or advertise interviewed, David Israel that
40:32
created popcorn from Prism. So this is all your point of
40:36
sale, your marketing stuff, and it's called California Ice
40:40
Protein. I want to talk about Owen, was
40:45
this going on in your head, this marking stuff that you just put
40:48
up? Because everybody will be able
40:49
to see this on Spotify and YouTube?
40:52
Were you talking to people on the outside and saying, Oh my
40:55
God, I've got something that's like bigger than big.
41:00
We got to figure out how to market and get this into
41:03
everywhere on the outside. Like were you, were you putting
41:06
the business plan in play there? Because I know where you are now
41:11
and I've seen your setup and everything that you've got going
41:14
on and all these refrigerators that were delivered like 50
41:17
freezers. How did you time this thing out?
41:22
I've been manifesting it, man. I'm not going to lie.
41:24
As soon as I got to the halfway house I said OK I need to figure
41:28
out if I can do a protein ice cream in the USI just started.
41:31
You How many months ago was that?
41:33
I got out 16 months ago and I've been in the Federal Bureau of
41:39
Prison halfway house and I just started going to different ice
41:43
cream shops and, and figuring out recipes and, and, you know,
41:48
putting Greek yogurt with ice cream mix and just just
41:52
collaborating with different manufacturers.
41:55
And just, I finally found a manufacturer that believed in my
41:57
story. I showed him the book and I told
42:00
him my comeback idea and I, I showed him the content in
42:03
prison. He says, man, I, I can't say no
42:05
to you. He says this, this is a hell of
42:08
a story and I want to be part of it.
42:09
And you know, I'm blessed to have found him and.
42:13
With and how did you find him, Owen?
42:15
What was the connection with him?
42:17
Was it just you trying out ice cream somewhere and you?
42:19
Just, I just started cold calling these ice cream
42:22
manufacturers and no one wanted to take it.
42:24
They all needed big ML QS and I, I didn't have two nickels to rub
42:27
together, right? You got to believe in me, man.
42:30
I said, I've, I've, I've paid back the cartel $4 million.
42:33
You don't have to worry. I'm going to make sure anything
42:35
I do with you is going to be legitimate.
42:38
And that was my sales pitch. I said, listen, I'm a
42:41
businessman, I'm an entrepreneur.
42:43
I said I have a story that's better than any Dave's Killer
42:48
Bread story. And I said I made this in my 6
42:53
by 8 cell. I said everyone loves a
42:55
comeback. I said, if you want to be part
42:57
of this comeback, I said just believe in me.
42:59
And this guy believed in me. And literally for the last year,
43:02
we've been formulating my, my mix with, you know, the healthy
43:06
treats that I put in at the bananas and the peanut butters
43:09
and you know, the fresh strawberries and just, you know,
43:12
adding the, the, the, the perfect amount of protein and,
43:15
and making sure it's not chalky like a protein bar.
43:19
And it just that ice cream taste like I tell people it's, it's,
43:24
it's the best thing you could, you could ever have as far as if
43:28
you want to those ice cream cravings, but you want to be
43:31
healthy about it. And it's all on a stick.
43:34
So it's not like you have to eat a pint.
43:37
No, and the great thing about it is, Owen, I mean, timing is
43:39
everything. Protein is the biggest, I mean
43:44
biggest thing out there right now.
43:46
I mean, people talk about cottage cheese and everything
43:48
else that's going on. You've got something that looks
43:52
good, it tastes good, it's got a great story.
43:55
It's like art, you know, people pay all this money for art
43:58
because of the store. You've got a story that connects
44:02
all the dots and now you're coming out and, and I know you
44:07
get out the 26th, which will be a huge weight off your I mean,
44:11
but like, what's your, what's your plan on this ice ice
44:14
protein, California ice protein from the California kid.
44:18
You know, I just feel the branding is, you know, the
44:20
California kid is my story. And then, and then why not start
44:24
the brand California ice protein?
44:26
Because it started as an ice protein in federal Prism, right?
44:29
And my idea is just that day I get out was the day I launched
44:33
my company. You know, I've, I've put the
44:34
taste test this out there. I've, I've had the fitness Expo
44:37
where I had 100 people in the line trying to taste my product
44:40
for two days straight. I know people believe in the
44:43
product and it's, it's not a pity story.
44:45
It's like, oh, look at this guy out of prison.
44:47
It's not. People are saying this is
44:48
unbelievable. I can't believe it's, it doesn't
44:51
taste healthy. That's what someone said it
44:53
doesn't taste. And when they said it didn't
44:55
taste healthy, I was like, that's it.
44:57
That's that's my tagline. I like it.
44:59
It's. Exactly what I want.
45:01
It doesn't taste healthy. So that means it's healthy, but
45:04
it's ice cream. So I'm just running with it.
45:07
And I feel like, you know, the momentum from the book and and
45:09
this this, you know, people are seeing this documentaries coming
45:13
out the rumor on the street. I feel like people are going to
45:16
start looking up what what's this Owen Hanson about?
45:18
And they're going to see that kid that was, you know, putting
45:21
bad things on the streets to now distributing healthy treats.
45:24
And I love that. That's a great tag line and it's
45:27
not any secret because you can look it up online.
45:29
You've got a documentary coming out that's going to also be
45:34
great when you're rolling all this out.
45:36
Your stuff looks really cool. It's got bright colors.
45:40
I mean we we can see it on here. You've got the white wall tires
45:44
that for the for the ice cream pushcart with the Chrome.
45:49
I mean it's it's it's the shit. It looks great and, and, and I
45:56
know that you'll be able to make it work because entrepreneurship
45:59
is all about the doing the taking action, you know, and
46:03
then figure, you know, they always make a joke about
46:05
entrepreneurs. They build the plane on the way
46:07
down and what after they jump? There's some truth to that, you
46:10
know, you know, like I, I've, I've talked about my story and,
46:15
and you know, you take, you should probably take less and
46:18
less risk as you get bigger. But when you're blowing, you
46:22
know, out right away, entrepreneur is all about he's
46:25
the guy with the, the hope, the risk, the the want and the
46:29
action to make it happen. And that's you're doing all that
46:32
and you've got it all kind of. I love your I've got your book.
46:37
Anybody who wants to check out your stuff on you've got a great
46:41
YouTube channel, your Instagram's blowing up.
46:45
So I mean, you've got it all going.
46:48
I, I want to ask you a question just on where you are right now
46:53
because you're getting ready to launch again.
46:55
It's fun stuff, but it's a lot of stress too.
47:00
What do you think's your biggest take away through all this
47:03
you've been through? My, my biggest take away is just
47:08
just never give up in life. You know, I was at the the Rock,
47:12
the most lowest place in the in life you could be rather than
47:16
being dead, right? It's a 6 by 8 prison cell and
47:20
you've been there, Brad, and it you can't get any lower.
47:23
No, Very humbling. And, and to understand that the
47:27
government's taken every asset I've ever made in my entire life
47:31
and to be let out on these streets and not have, like I
47:34
said, two nickels to rub together and just be, you know,
47:40
utilizing your, your contacts and, and hoping they believe in
47:43
you and realize that you know how he is making a comeback.
47:46
This is his, his redemption story.
47:49
And if you, if you have the fate and the faith, you, you, you can
47:53
go anywhere in life. And, and I'm, I'm going to prove
47:56
that to the, to the world. I've, I feel like I've already
47:58
gotten 1/4 of the way there, you know, and I just know once this,
48:03
the story is told properly and I get this California ice protein,
48:07
I hope it's that that big buyout like Halo Top or, you know,
48:09
Ghost Dave's killer bread. Yeah, no.
48:14
And, and, and I think Dave's Killer Bread, I think he sold
48:16
out for like 270 million or more.
48:19
It could be more than that, but that figures stuck in my head.
48:23
And the thing of it is, you know, Owen, is that you're
48:27
right. When you get knocked down to the
48:29
lowest point, you don't have to worry about that anymore where
48:32
they've taken away everything that's off your back.
48:35
So if you start stepping forward, you know, if you've
48:39
lost everything, you know what that feels like, but you also
48:42
know that you built it the first time.
48:44
And and I think that you going out test, I mean, because
48:49
everybody's got something that they like.
48:51
They think they've got the best idea in the world.
48:53
And if they could only do this, then they'd be rich.
48:56
But you went around until you found somebody that believed in
48:58
you, and then you spent the last few months while you've been in
49:02
the halfway house to make it all come to life, which I think is
49:06
so incredibly cool. Really cool.
49:11
Yeah, I appreciate it. And I actually have a meeting in
49:14
about 5 minutes with the manufacturer, so that's good.
49:17
But I just wanted to tell you, you know, keep following the the
49:20
story. It's, it's all about the
49:23
redemption and the second chance in life.
49:25
And just just keep in mind that there's there's really no
49:29
excuses in life if if we can do it from where I'm at right now
49:32
in the Federal Bureau of Prison halfway house, and anybody
49:34
should be able to do it. I love that because that's
49:37
that's the kind of message that needs to be out there.
49:39
These type of things can happen. If you want to get a hold,
49:42
follow Owen Hansen at California Kid on on the Instagram,
49:48
YouTube. Are you under Owen Hanson?
49:50
Yes, it's all under the official CA kid and if people want to buy
49:55
the book they can go to the California.
49:57
They could go no if they want to sign in in a personal message
50:00
for me to go to the California kid.com.
50:03
Got it. And if anybody's looking for
50:07
another book, I've got one too. Just while you're out there
50:09
shopping around. Nightmare success.
50:11
I want to give a shout out to Homestead financial home
50:13
mortgage for letting me use this all this podcast equipment in
50:17
their room here. And and if you got anything you
50:21
want to check out with Brent Cassidy, go to brentcassidy.com.
50:24
I spell it wrong. Spell it with ATY not a DY and
50:29
you've got a cool website, Owen. Is it?
50:33
Is it what you just said is your website?
50:36
Yeah, the book is easy to remember, the California kid.com
50:39
or the California Ice protein.com.
50:41
We got both of them. We're going to be direct to
50:43
consumer in the next two months and we'll be in 100 stores here
50:47
within the the summertime. That's going to be cool.
50:50
And we're going to be talking about it because it it happened
50:53
while you were in the halfway house and while you were in
50:55
prison. And then the halfway house you
50:57
built out the the plan. Owen, man, I love it.
51:02
You are an inspiration to all of us that have gone through the
51:04
system and you're making it happen.
51:06
And, and it's just, and I want to give another shout out to
51:08
Matt Boyer for connecting this up so everybody can listen to
51:12
this story. As I used to say to my people
51:15
when I was writing my emails back and forth from Leavenworth,
51:18
stay strong. I'll do the same.
51:21
All the best to you, Owen Hanson.
51:23
You are you. You've got a story, man.
51:26
They remember as a Trojan we just keep fighting on brothers.
51:29
Keep fighting on. I've heard that, all right.
51:32
I'm her success in and out.