The Federal Bureau of Investigation has escalated its pursuit of Ryan Wedding, a Canadian ex-Olympian accused of masterminding a billion-dollar transnational drug trafficking operation, by adding him to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Wedding, 43, faces a suite of charges tied to the alleged shipment of vast cocaine quantities across Colombia, Mexico, Southern California, and Canada, as well as orchestrating multiple murders in Ontario. Authorities have now posted a US$10 million reward for information leading to his capture, a significant jump from the prior US$50,000 offer.
Wedding, who represented Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, is believed to be evading capture in Mexico, potentially shielded by the Sinaloa cartel, according to U.S. law enforcement officials speaking at a Thursday news conference in Los Angeles. A 2024 photograph of the fugitive was unveiled, though its source remains undisclosed. Named in an October 2024 indictment alongside 15 co-defendants—nine of them Canadian—Wedding is the alleged ringleader of a network that trafficked approximately 1,800 kilograms of cocaine. Among the charges are three counts of murder linked to a criminal enterprise, including the 2023 mistaken-identity killing of an Indian couple in Caledon, Ontario, and a 2024 drug-debt slaying in Brampton.
Law enforcement underscored Wedding’s dangerous profile. “This reward signals there’s no sanctuary for him,” said Alan Hamilton, Chief of Detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department, emphasizing the intent to dismantle his operations. The RCMP, collaborating with U.S. and Mexican counterparts, labeled Wedding a top organized crime threat to Canada. His alleged second-in-command, Andrew Clark, extradited from Mexico last month, faces related charges, including a Niagara Falls murder. As the manhunt intensifies, officials warn Wedding’s appearance may have evolved, a common tactic among fugitives.