Ryan Wedding. Adam Pretty/Getty Images
A former Olympic snowboarder has been charged with operating a deadly cocaine enterprise — and he remains at large.
Ryan James Wedding, 43, who competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was charged Thursday, October 17 with running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes, U.S. prosecutors said.
Wedding, a Canadian citizen who was living in Mexico and is now considered a fugitive, is accused of running a drug trafficking ring that moved 60 tons of cocaine per year.
According to authorities, Wedding’s group used long-haul semi trucks to move shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other locations in the United States.
The Olympics may be an event that is all about athletics, but that doesn’t mean that the most shocking things happen during the tournaments. Throughout the years, incidents from doping scandals to terrorist attacks have made headlines for the Olympics beyond the Games. Perhaps one of the most famous scandals came out of the 1994 […]
Wedding is one of 16 individuals charged in connection to the operation, with four of them remaining fugitives. A dozen people were arrested in Florida, Michigan, Canada, Colombia and Mexico in connection with the case, according to FBI special agent Krysti Hawkins.
The FBI has issued a $50,000 reward for information that leads to Wedding’s arrest and extradition.
Authorities say Wedding’s group turned deadly in 2023 when members of the crime ring killed two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. Officials say the murders turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
Andrew Clark, who was arrested October 8 by the FBI, and Wedding are alleged to have directed the murders, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release on Thursday.
The group is also charged with the murder of one individual in May 2024 over a drug debt.
“He chose to become a major drug trafficker, and he chose to become a killer,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada told reporters Thursday.
Martin Estrada. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
In connection with their investigation, authorities seized cocaine, weapons, ammunition, cash and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency.
Wedding also faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada dating back to 2015.
Olympic field hockey medalist Thomas Craig was arrested in Paris on Tuesday, August 6, for allegedly trying to purchase cocaine. The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced in a Wednesday, August 7, statement that local law enforcement officials witnessed a “cocaine transaction” in Paris’ 9th arrondissement. Officers arrested both the seller and the buyer, who was […]
“Those charges are very much unresolved,” said Chris Leather, chief superintendent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
According to federal records viewed by ESPN, Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to four years in prison in 2010.
After his release, said Estrada, he is believed to have been protected by the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico while resuming his drug trafficking.
Wedding finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics.