Former Canadian athlete Ryan Wedding, who represented Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics, was arrested on Thursday night in Mexico City. The 44-year-old former snowboarder is facing charges of running a violent transnational drug trafficking organization and was listed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list in March last year.
According to BBC News, FBI Director Kash Patel announced this news at a press conference held on Friday at Ontario International Airport in Southern California. He stated that Wedding has been extradited from Mexico to the United States and will face judicial trial in the U.S.
Patel likened Wedding to notorious drug lords, stating, “He went from an Olympic snowboarder to one of the biggest drug traffickers of our time. He is a modern-day version of El Chapo, Pablo Escobar, and Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, thinking he could evade justice.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi also posted on social media platform X, stating, “At my direction, DOJ agents have arrested another member of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list: Ryan Wedding, the former Olympic snowboarder turned violent cocaine trafficker.”
She also expressed gratitude to the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson and the Mexican government for their assistance in this case.
Wedding competed in the parallel giant slalom snowboarding event representing Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, finishing 24th. However, his life took a dramatic turn after the Olympics.
Court documents show that Wedding’s criminal career began in 2008. In 2009, he was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and was released in December 2011. Federal law enforcement authorities alleged that he established his own drug crime network after his release.
U.S. authorities believe Wedding was a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, hiding in Mexico for over a decade. Prosecutors charged that his drug network regularly shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California to various locations in Canada and the U.S.
Akil Davis, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, revealed that Wedding’s organization was responsible for shipping approximately 60 tons of cocaine annually through Southern California, making it Canada’s largest cocaine supplier with an estimated annual revenue of $1 billion.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme commented, “With Ryan Wedding’s arrest, our community and country are safer.”
In addition to large-scale drug trafficking, Wedding is also charged with orchestrating multiple murders. Most notably, he is accused of killing a federal witness who was set to testify against him. It is alleged that Wedding posted the witness’s photo on a website called “Dirty News,” and the witness was subsequently shot dead in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January 2025.
According to a federal indictment unsealed in November, Wedding faces nine charges including conspiracy to distribute, possess, and export cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder related to a criminal organization, witness tampering, and money laundering.
The U.S. Treasury Department had previously sanctioned 19 individuals, including Wedding. The FBI had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest, which was later increased to $15 million.
Wedding’s arrest is part of Operation Giant Slalom. During the investigation, law enforcement authorities have arrested 36 individuals and seized over 2,300 kilograms of cocaine, 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, 44 kilograms of fentanyl, 8 firearms, and over $55 million in illegal assets.
In December last year, Mexican authorities seized dozens of racing motorcycles owned by Wedding worth an estimated $40 million, along with luxury paintings, artworks, drugs, and two Olympic medals. In November, the FBI also seized his 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR car valued at $13 million.
Wedding is scheduled to appear in court for the first time on Monday, January 26th.