Former Olympic snowboarder and Canadian national Ryan Wedding, 43, is on the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives list for allegedly running a violent transnational drug trafficking network.
The BBC reports Wedding is sought for allegedly shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, to Canada and U.S. locations, and for orchestrating multiple murders in pursuance of their nefarious deeds.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
“The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man,” Davis said.
The U.S. is offering a reward of up to $10m for information leading to Wedding’s arrest or conviction.
Canadian ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding, 43, top left, is one of 16 defendants charged in a superseding indictment for allegedly running and a transnational drug trafficking operation that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Columbia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the U.S., and whose leaders orchestrated multiple murders. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty)
Investigators believe he is living in Mexico, but have not ruled out his presence in the U.S., Canada, other Latin American countries or elsewhere.
It was not clear if he has a lawyer.
Wedding’s second-in-command, fellow Canadian Andrew Clark, 34, known as “El Dictador,” was among 29 alleged or convicted narcotics traffickers extradited to the United States from Mexico last week.
Wedding competed in Giant Slalom snowboarding for Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom.
His multiple aliases in the criminal underworld include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” “Jesse King,” as well as “Really Big Guy” the FBI said.
