Ex-Canadian Olympic Snowboarder Charged With Running Drug Trafficking Ring

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding has been charged with running a drug trafficking ring through North America, authorities said Thursday.
Wedding, a 43-year-old Canadian citizen who was living in Mexico, is charged in the United States with running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes, according to U.S. prosecutors. A federal warrant for his arrest was issued in mid-September.
He is considered a fugitive, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and extradition.
The drug trafficking ring allegedly shipped large amounts of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other locations in the U.S. using long-haul semi-trucks.
Wedding is one of 16 people charged in connection with a ring that moved 60 tons of cocaine a year, said Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, adding that four of them remain fugitives.
“He chose to become a major drug trafficker, and he chose to become a killer,” Estrada told reporters.
U.S. authorities claim that the ring killed two members of a family in Canada in November 2023 in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment in what Canadian officials said was a case of mistaken identity.
“They were killed in cold blood in front of their daughter, who was also shot 13 times,” Estrada said.
The ring is also accused of killing at least one other person, according to U.S. authorities.
Krysti Hawkins, FBI special agent in charge in Los Angeles, said a dozen people were arrested in Florida, Michigan, Canada, Colombia and Mexico in connection with the case.
U.S. authorities said they seized cocaine, weapons, ammunition, cash and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency in connection with the case.
Wedding competed on the Canadian team in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
He was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and he was sentenced to prison in 2010, according to federal records.
Estrada said U.S. authorities think Wedding went back to drug trafficking after he was released from prison and has been protected by the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
Wedding also faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada dating back to 2015, Chris Leather, chief superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said.
“Those charges are very much unresolved,” Leather said.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.