The FBI has added former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, accusing him of running a multi-national drug trafficking network and orchestrating multiple murders. The US State Department has announced a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest, alongside the FBI’s $50,000 offer.
Wedding, 43, is charged with conspiracy to export cocaine, operating a criminal enterprise, and murder. Authorities allege he led a network that trafficked large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California before distributing the drugs in Canada and US cities.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets,” said Akil Davis, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man.”
The former athlete, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics and finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom, is believed to be hiding in Mexico, possibly under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, officials said at a press conference in Los Angeles.
US authorities allege that Wedding’s criminal operation was responsible for the murder of four people in Ontario, Canada, in November 2023, in connection with a stolen drug shipment. Two of the killings were reportedly cases of mistaken identity. Prosecutors in Toronto said in a court filing that Wedding has been on the run since October 2023, when authorities first identified him as the leader of the criminal enterprise.
Among Wedding’s known aliases are “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy,” and “James Conrad King.” His second-in-command, Andrew Clark, was arrested in Mexico in October and later extradited to the United States, along with 28 alleged cartel members.
“After his successful snowboarding career, Wedding went downhill in a different kind of way,” said Cart Weiland, a senior State Department official, as reported by the Toronto Star. “He traded snow for another kind of powder.”
The FBI’s investigation into Wedding and his drug operation is ongoing. Authorities urge anyone with information on his whereabouts to come forward.
