TORONTO — A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder wanted in the U.S. on multiple charges stemming from his alleged involvement in a transnational drug trafficking ring has been added to the FBI’s list of 10 most wanted fugitives.
The U.S. Department of State's international narcotics bureau is offering a US$10-million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ryan James Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
The 43-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ont., is wanted for allegedly leading an organized crime group that moved large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other locations in the United States. The FBI said Wedding is also wanted for allegedly orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder.
U.S. authorities say Wedding had been living in Mexico and is considered a fugitive.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement Thursday.
“The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of 10 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.”
The FBI had previously offered a US$50,000 reward for information leading to Wedding's arrest and extradition to the U.S.
Wedding – whose aliases include “El Jefe" and “Public Enemy" – is facing eight felony charges, including conspiracy to export cocaine, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and one count of attempted murder.
He is one of 16 people charged in the alleged drug ring.
The charges have not been proven in court.
Wedding and another Canadian citizen, who was arrested by Mexican authorities in October, are accused of directing the Nov. 20, 2023 murders of two members of a family in Caledon, Ont., in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. Ontario Provincial Police have said the family was "completely innocent" and mistakenly targeted.
Two murders in Ontario's Niagara and Peel regions last year were also connected to the alleged drug ring.
The RCMP has said it worked with the FBI for over a year to investigate the alleged criminal network. Various law enforcement agencies across Canada, U.S., Mexico and Colombia assisted the investigation.
Wedding faces separate "unresolved" drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, the RCMP said in October.
Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show. U.S. authorities believe that after Wedding’s release, he resumed drug trafficking and has been protected by the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2025.
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
