Ryan Wedding once competed with the world’s top snowboarders. In 2002, at 21 years old, he traveled to Salt Lake City as a member of Canada’s Olympic team to partake in the men’s parallel giant slalom, ultimately securing 24th place out of 32 competitors. Yet, in the two decades since, his life has undergone a drastic transformation from those Olympic heights: Wedding, who is purportedly the leader of a billion-dollar drug ring, is featured on the FBI’s list and is the subject of an intensifying search.
The former Olympian is allegedly Canada’s “largest distributor of cocaine” and operates “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations” globally, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed at a Wednesday press briefing, where she announced the public release of a new indictment against Wedding. He now faces additional accusations that he orchestrated the murder of a federal witness who was prepared to testify against him.
The indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, charges Wedding with counts of witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
The State Department has increased the reward for information leading to Wedding’s apprehension from $10 million to $15 million, and is offering $2 million for details that result in the arrest of others alleged to have been implicated in the witness’s murder.
The Treasury Department also implemented measures against Wedding on Wednesday.
“Treasury is collaborating with the FBI and the Department of Justice to cut Wedding and his criminal partners off from the U.S. financial system and aid in dismantling the network they depend on,” stated Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. “Our aim is straightforward: to make it difficult for criminals like this to profit from harming our communities.”
The Department of Justice reported the arrest of ten individuals connected to Wedding as a component of an enforcement operation named “Operation Giant Slalom,” including Deepak Paradkar, an Ontario lawyer who purportedly advised Wedding to murder the FBI witness Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, who was shot in January.
In addition to Paradkar and Wedding, 17 other defendants were charged in the unsealed indictment for offenses related to their involvement with Wedding’s alleged criminal enterprise.
“Wedding works closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, a foreign terrorist organization, to flood not only American but also Canadian communities with cocaine originating from Colombia,” Bondi announced at the press briefing Wednesday. “His organization is responsible for importing approximately six metric tons of cocaine annually into Los Angeles via semi-trailer trucks from Mexico.”
Wedding was previously indicted in Los Angeles on multiple charges, including managing a criminal enterprise, committing murder, and various drug-related offenses. He is accused of ordering the murders of numerous people in Canada, alongside his apparent second-in-command, fellow Canadian national Andrew Clark, according to the FBI.
In 2010, Wedding was convicted on drug trafficking charges and given a four-year prison sentence. Since then, he has, according to law enforcement, emerged as a powerful narcotics kingpin.
“Make no mistake. Ryan Wedding is a contemporary incarnation of Pablo Escobar,” FBI Director Kash Patel declared. “He’s a modern-day equivalent of El Chapo Guzmán.”
Wedding is currently in hiding in Mexico, as per the Treasury Department.
