Ex-Olympian wanted by FBI for allegedly running deadly drug ring

Former Olympic snowboarder and Canadian national Ryan Wedding, 43, has been placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives list for allegedly running a violent transnational drug trafficking network.

Wedding is wanted for allegedly shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, to Canada and US locations, and for orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder to further these drug crimes.

The US is offering a reward of up to $10m (£7.7m) for information leading to Wedding’s arrest or conviction.

Investigators believe he is living in Mexico, but have not ruled out his presence in the US, Canada, other Latin American countries or elsewhere.

It was not clear if he has a lawyer.

Wedding competed in Giant Slalom snowboarding for Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

His aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King,” the FBI said.

In June 2024, Wedding and his accomplice Andrew Clark, 34, also Canadian, were charged in California with running a continuing criminal enterprise, committing murder in connection with the enterprise and assorted drug crimes, and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.

Clark was arrested last October by Mexican authorities and was among 29 fugitives extradited to the US from Mexico last week.

The US indictment alleges that Wedding and Clark directed the 20 November 2023 murders of two family members in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through southern California. Another family member survived the shooting but was left with serious physical injuries, the FBI said.

Wedding and Clark allegedly also ordered the murder of another victim on 18 May 2024 over a drug debt, according to the FBI.

“The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, coupled with a major reward offer by the State Department, will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger,” Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a press release on Thursday.