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Last October, it was announced that Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic athlete from Canada, was wanted by the FBI for his involvement in a cocaine trafficking ring. In March, Wedding was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted List. On Wednesday, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $15 million reward for his capture.
The Department of Justice alleges that the former Olympic snowboarder turned drug kingpin ordered the murder of various individuals. In one case, the target was a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case against Ryan Wedding, which resulted in the witness’s death.
Wedding, 44, who the DOJ states is currently living in Mexico, “is charged with overseeing the operations of a criminal enterprise – including by engaging in witness intimidation tactics such as murder – and enriching himself with the enterprise’s laundered drug proceeds.”
Ten people were arrested as part of a federal grand jury indictment that was unsealed on Tuesday. The indictment charges Ryan Wedding, a Canadian criminal barrister, a reggaeton musician, a would-be gangland news website operator, and others with being connected to the January 31 murder in Colombia of a federal witness in a separate criminal case. A total of 11 people are now in custody.
Among those arrested was attorney Deepak Balwant Paradkar. Paradkar allegedly advised Wedding to murder the victim so that Wedding would avoid extradition to the United States from Mexico for the 2024 federal criminal charges.
Ryan Wedding is wanted for multiple murders and operating a transnational criminal organization
“Ryan Wedding controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world and works closely with the Sinaloa Cartel,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “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.”
Wedding, who also goes by the aliases El Jefe, Giant, and Public Enemy, competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He is also charged with directing the November 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Canada and attempted murder of another member of that family. The assassinations were performed in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California.
“Ryan Wedding’s athletic drive snowballed into a life of violence and, instead of conquering mountains, he mastered a deadly drug distribution enterprise and will continue to order murders while he enjoys protection by his cartel associates and others,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.