Ryan James Wedding, a Canadian citizen residing in Mexico, is a former Olympic snowboarder who participated in the giant slalom snowboarding event for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
After his snowboarding career, Wedding turned to a life of crime as a transnational narcotics trafficker.
Wedding heads a complex transnational organized crime organization which coordinated the procurement and transportation of cocaine from South America to the United States and Canada.
After a concentrated investigation in both North American countries, Wedding was charged in June 2024 in the Central District of California with running a continuing criminal enterprise, murder, attempted murder, and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.
Ryan Wedding, wanted by U.S. authorities for allegedly leading a multinational drug trafficking network, is now facing additional charges related to the murder of a federal witness, U.S. Attorney-General Pam Bondi announced.
Ten other individuals have been arrested in connection with the federal indictment unsealed in California, which accuses Wedding of orchestrating the January killing of a witness in Colombia to avoid extradition to the United States.
The FBI has placed Wedding on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list and is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest. Authorities believe he is currently hiding in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, collaborating to traffic large quantities of drugs into Canada and the U.S.
“Whether you are a street-level drug dealer or an international drug kingpin, we are coming for you,” Bondi said. “We will find you, and you will be held accountable for your crimes.”
Wedding, also known by aliases including El Jefe, Public Enemy, and James Conrad King, was charged in 2024 with running a drug operation responsible for moving approximately 60 tons of cocaine annually. The drugs were allegedly transported using long-haul trucks between Colombia, Mexico, southern California, and Canada.
Authorities claim Wedding and his alleged co-conspirators used a Canadian website called “The Dirty News” to post a photograph of the witness, allowing him to be identified and ultimately killed. The victim was shot in the head at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January.
“Wedding placed a bounty on the victim’s head under the false belief that killing him would result in the dismissal of criminal charges and prevent his extradition to the United States,” said Bill Essayli, lead federal prosecutor for California’s Central District. “He was wrong.”
The U.S. government is also offering rewards of up to $2 million for information leading to the capture of others involved in the witness killing.
