FBI fugitive, ex-Olympic snowboarder faces new charges, including ordering murder of witness
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder, with overseeing the operations of a criminal enterprise and ordering multiple murders, including the shooting death of a federal witness in January.
Wedding, who is still at large, competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics. He was first indicted in June 2024 on charges of running a continuing criminal enterprise, murder and conspiring to possess, distribute and export cocaine. In October 2024, authorities announced that a superseding indictment included charges of trafficking large quantities of cocaine from California to Canada, three counts of murder and one count of attempt to commit murder.
Wedding was accused of orchestrating the November 2023 murder of two individuals in Ontario, Canada, in response to a stolen drug shipment.
In March, Wedding was added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list and accused of running a drug trafficking network that distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, the United States and Canada.
In the latest DOJ indictment, Wedding faces new charges stemming from the shooting death of a federal witness in Colombia last January. The FBI also increased the reward for information on Wedding’s whereabouts from $10 million to $15 million. Authorities believe the Canadian national is hiding in Mexico.
“To eliminate threats and advance his enterprise’s interests, Wedding issued orders to murder various individuals including an order to kill the victim, a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case against Wedding, which resulted in the victim’s death,” the DOJ stated Wednesday. “Wedding placed a bounty on the victim and enlisted the services of others to locate and kill the victim.”
Ryan Wedding competes during the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. (Adam Pretty / Getty Images)
Wedding is alleged to have served as Canada’s primary distributor of cocaine and collaborated with the powerful Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Whether you’re a kingpin or a dealer on the street, anyone who sells drugs to our kids will be arrested and prosecuted,” Bondi said. “Ryan Wedding controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world and works closely with the Sinaloa Cartel. We will not rest until his name is taken off the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List, and his narco-trafficking organization lies dismantled.”
Thirty-five people have been indicted in the case. The arrests of 10 defendants were announced this week in the second stage of what the FBI calls “Operation Giant Slalom.”
In the killing of the federal witness in Colombia, Wedding is alleged to have used a Canadian website to publish photos of the man and his wife in hopes of discovering their location, according to the DOJ. Co-conspirator Gursewak Singh Bal, accused of posting the witness’s photo to the now-banned website, was one of the 10 arrested.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Wedding finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom snowboarding event. In 2010, he was convicted of attempting to buy cocaine and was sentenced to four years in prison by a U.S. judge.
A man named Andrew Clark, believed to be Wedding’s associate in the drug ring, was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 and charged with drug crimes and conspiring with Wedding to kill a person over a debt.
