{"id":314995,"date":"2024-03-21T18:02:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T23:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=314995"},"modified":"2024-03-22T10:31:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T15:31:06","slug":"usc-football-player-turned-drug-gambling-crime-lord-released-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/usc-football-player-turned-drug-gambling-crime-lord-released-early\/","title":{"rendered":"USC Football Player Turned Drug, Gambling Crime Lord Released Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

Owen Hanson<\/a>, the former USC football player who swapped college athletics for notoriety as an online gambling and drug-trafficking kingpin, was released early from a federal prison this week.<\/p>\n

\"Owen
Owen Hanson photoshopped himself in front of the defaced grave of RJ Cipriana\u2019s mother, which was sent to the gambler as part of a campaign of harassment and intimidation. Hanson is pictured during his USC football days, bottom left. (Image: RJ Cipriani\/USC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hanson was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison in late 2017 after pleading guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute drugs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear why Hanson, who is currently the subject of an Amazon Sports docuseries from Mark Wahlberg\u2019s production company, is being released early.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The motion for the sentence reduction is currently under seal. The order granting it cites \u201cextraordinary and compelling reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rise of a Criminal Empire <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hanson, now 41, was arrested in 2015 in an FBI sting that targeted his multimillion-dollar illegal gambling and narcotics empire.<\/p>\n

The former USC tight end enjoyed a privileged upbringing in Redondo Beach, Calif., where he was popular, charismatic, expensively educated, and seemingly destined for great things. His descent into the dark side began after he began selling performance-enhancing drugs to fellow college athletes.<\/p>\n

From there, he graduated to internationally trafficking cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and heroin. At the same time, he ran an offshore sports betting site that employed violent enforcers to collect gambling debts.<\/p>\n

\n

Things began to fall apart for Hanson when he hooked up with professional gambler and Las Vegas personality Robert \u201cRJ\u201d Cipriani, aka \u201cRobin Hood 702.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cipriani<\/a> employs the Robin Hood moniker, coupled with the Las Vegas-area dialing code, because he allegedly donates a portion of his gambling winnings to charitable causes.<\/p>\n

But on this occasion, his job was to launder $2.5 million of Hanson\u2019s drug money by gambling with it, minimally, at the gaming tables of an Australian casino. Cipriani blew the lot, purposefully, he claims, because he suspected he was being set up for money laundering.<\/p>\n

Modern Day Robin Hood<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cipriani made an anonymous call to Australian authorities to report the presence of a gun in a Sydney hotel room linked to Hanson. Then he fled to the US.<\/p>\n

Instead of a gun, police found a suitcase filled with $700K in cash in the hotel room. When Cipriani got back home, he contacted the FBI.<\/p>\n

\n

Before his arrest, Hanson hounded Cipriani with death threats, sending photos of the gambler\u2019s deceased mother\u2019s defaced headstone, along with execution videos to Cipriani and his family members.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Upon hearing of his former tormentor’s release, Cipriani told Deadline<\/em> this week that he was prepared to offer Hanson a \u201cbeautiful one-bedroom apartment\u201d for free for six months to help \u201cMr. Hanson assimilate back into society, and to help him get back on his feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the last person that he\u2019d ever expect to help in life, I wanted to be that person. I wanted to \u2018Pray It Up\u2019 as Mark Wahlberg has suggested,\u201d Cipriani joked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owen Hanson, the former USC football player who swapped college athletics for notoriety as an online gambling and drug-trafficking kingpin, was released early from a federal prison this week. Hanson was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison in late 2017 after pleading guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute drugs. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":314996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1074],"tags":[86937,13628,90298,90299,90300,90301,83904,90302],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUSC Football Player Turned Drug, Gambling Crime Lord Released<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Owen Hanson has been released early from 21-year prison sentence for unknown reasons. 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