Ryan Wedding, a 43-year-old former Olympic snowboarder representing Canada, has been added to the FBI’s list of the top ten most wanted fugitives for allegedly operating a violent international drug trafficking organisation.
Wedding is being sought for allegedly transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, to various locations in Canada and the US, as well as for orchestrating several murders and attempted murder to facilitate these drug-related crimes.
The US is offering a reward of up to $10 million for any information that leads to Wedding’s arrest or conviction. Authorities believe he may be residing in Mexico but have not dismissed the possibility of him being in the US, Canada, other countries in Latin America, or elsewhere.
Wedding participated in Giant Slalom snowboarding for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
According to the FBI, his aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King.”
In June 2024, Wedding and his accomplice Andrew Clark, 34, also from Canada, were charged in California with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, murdering concerning that enterprise, and various drug offences, including conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.
Clark was apprehended by Mexican authorities last October and was among 29 fugitives extradited to the US from Mexico the previous week.
The US indictment claims that Wedding and Clark orchestrated the murders of two family members on November 20, 2023, in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that had travelled through southern California. A third family member survived the attack but sustained significant injuries, according to the FBI.
Additionally, Wedding and Clark purportedly ordered the murder of another individual on May 18, 2024, over an outstanding drug debt, according to the FBI.
