Ryan James Wedding. Photo:
fbi
- Ryan James Wedding, 43, competed for Team Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah
- He is wanted for allegedly running a transnational drug trafficking network and orchestrating multiple murders and attempted murders, the FBI said on March 6
- The U.S. Department of State is offering a $10 million reward for information that will lead to Wedding’s arrest and/or conviction
A former Olympic snowboarder has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.
On Thursday, March 6, the FBI announced that Ryan James Wedding, 43, who competed for Team Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, had been placed on the list of 10 most wanted fugitives.
Wedding is currently wanted for “allegedly running a transnational drug trafficking network that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States, and for orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder in furtherance of these drug crimes,” the FBI said.
FBI poster with information regarding the search for Ryan James Wedding. fbi
The U.S. Department of State is offering a $10 million reward for information that will lead to Wedding’s arrest and/or conviction. The FBI is also offering a $50,000 reward for information that will lead to his apprehension, arrest and extradition.
While Wedding is believed to reside in Mexico, investigators have not ruled out his presence in other areas, including the U.S. and Canada.
“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,” Akil Davis, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a press release statement that called Wedding “a very dangerous man.”
According to the FBI, in June 2024, Wedding and his “second-in-command” Andrew Clark, 34, were charged in an indictment out of California with running a continuing criminal enterprise; committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes; and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.
Ryan James Wedding competes during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Adam Pretty/Getty
A superseding indictment in September 2024 by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles named an additional 14 defendants and, among other counts, an attempted murder charge against Wedding and Clark.
It alleges that Wedding, Clark, and the other defendants conspired to ship bulk quantities of cocaine “weighing hundreds of kilograms” from Southern California to Canada using a “Canada-based drug transportation network.” The shipments allegedly arrived from Mexico.
The press release states that the superseding indictment alleges Wedding and Clark “resorted to violence — including multiple murders — to achieve its aims.”
One of the alleged acts of violence occurred in November 2023, during which Wedding and Clark are accused of ordering the murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada, as retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. Another member of that family survived the shooting but was allegedly left with serious physical injuries.
Ryan James Wedding. fbi
Clark was arrested last October by Mexican authorities. He was among the 29 fugitives who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico in late February, as announced by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
The FBI said that Wedding and Clark would face a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison on their respective continuing criminal enterprise charge if convicted.
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Their murder and attempted murder charges face a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, and their drug trafficking charges carry mandatory minimum penalties of 10 to 15 years in prison.
