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Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding was charged with two more counts of witness tampering, intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking and federal authorities increased the reward for his capture to $15 million on Wednesday.
Wedding, 44, and 14 other alleged associates were charged with orchestrating the January 2025 murder of a witness who was fatally shot at a restaurant in Colombia. Officials said Wedding placed a bounty on the victim’s head, believing his death would result in charges being dropped against him and the drug trafficking ring he allegedly led.
Wedding is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and is described as “an extremely violent criminal believed to be responsible for the murder of numerous people overseas,” according to federal officials.
“You can’t become a drug lord and escape the law,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Make no mistake. Ryan Wedding is a modern version of Pablo Escobar. He is a modern version of ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. This Department of Justice and this FBI will work with our Canadian counterparts and government officials around the world to bring him to justice.
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Ryan Wedding of Canada trains for the men’s parallel giant slalom at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City, February 13, 2002. (Reuters/Jeff J Mitchell)
“He is responsible for building a drug trafficking and narcoterrorism program that we have not seen in a long time. He will not escape justice. We are here today because this Department of Justice, behind the brilliant leadership of the Attorney General (Pam Bondi) and the Deputy Attorney General, has made it clear to the American people, with the indictments they have filed, that law enforcement agencies like the FBI will lead the effort to go after place and ensure that these animals are brought to justice.”
Patel added that anyone who has information on Wedding’s whereabouts: “Now is the time to speak out.”
Authorities said a website called “The Dirty News” was also shut down as part of their investigation. Officials said the site was used to post a photo of the January murder victim and his wife online in order to be “hunted down and killed.”
“Your days are numbered. Our agents and prosecutors will relentlessly pursue you and everyone who assists you and bring you to justice. Not just anywhere, we will bring you to justice in the United States of America,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California.
Wedding is allegedly responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine through Colombia and Mexico for distribution in the United States and Canada and uses cryptocurrency to hide his wealth. The FBI said Wedding ordered dozens of killings in North America and Latin America.
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Ryan Wedding remains on the run. (FBI)
“Protecting federal witnesses from retaliation is at the heart of the Department’s mission. It is about individual safety, but more importantly, protecting the rule of law itself,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Wedding competed in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City after missing the 1998 Games. These were the only Olympics he competed in.
In his only event, the men’s parallel giant slalom, Wedding finished in 24th place. Swiss Philipp Schoch won gold, Swede Richard Rikardsson silver and American Chris Klug bronze.
Wedding was first linked to criminal activity in 2006. He and another competitive snowboarder were named in a search warrant for a home in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, that was investigated for growing large quantities of marijuana, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Police seized 6,800 marijuana plants from that home, but no one was charged.
Wedding was first arrested in 2009 in the United States after traveling with two friends from Vancouver to California for allegedly purchasing 24 kilograms of Colombian cocaine. The FBI determined that Wedding was working for a drug lord in Vancouver at the time.
He served a four-year prison sentence after agreeing to forfeit more than $121,000 seized in an airport raid and dropping his appeal of his conviction.
In 2015, Wedding faced new charges for drug offenses in Nova Scotia. But since then, he has been on the run.
U.S. investigators believed Wedding was protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and resumed trafficking shortly after his release from prison. Federal authorities first issued an arrest warrant for Wedding in September 2024.
Wedding also allegedly goes by the aliases “El Jefe”, “Giant”, “Public Enemy”, “James Conrad King” and “Jesse King” and is believed to have transported more than $1 billion in cocaine.
Wedding and his alleged accomplice Andrew Clark, apprehended in October 2024 and extradited earlier this year, are accused of coordinating the murder of an Ontario family “in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment passing through Southern California.”
Ryan Wedding of Canada at the 2002 Olympic Games. (Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)
The FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police allege Wedding and Clark coordinated a November 2023 double homicide in Ontario involving an innocent couple in a mistaken identity killing, according to the FBI.
Wedding and Clark are also accused of coordinating the murder of another person in May over a drug debt.
The murder and criminal enterprise charges against Wedding carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in federal prison.
