A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder once celebrated on the world stage is now facing justice after years on the run. Ryan Wedding, 44, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics, has been arrested in Mexico, U.S. officials confirmed Friday.
Wedding had been placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, with authorities offering a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. He is accused of leading a multinational drug trafficking operation and orchestrating multiple killings, including the murder of a federal witness.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrest in social media posts. Patel said Wedding was apprehended Thursday night and is now being transported to the United States after allegedly hiding in Mexico for more than a decade.
“This is a huge day for a safer North America, and the world,” Patel wrote. “It sends a clear message that those who break our laws and harm our citizens will be brought to justice.”
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Patel met with Mexican officials Thursday and departed Friday with two detainees. One of them, according to Mexican officials speaking anonymously, was Wedding, a Canadian citizen who turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy.
From Olympian to International Fugitive
Wedding competed in the men’s parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, finishing 24th. Years later, federal authorities say he became deeply involved in international drug trafficking.
In 2024, Wedding was charged with running a cocaine trafficking network that used semitrucks to move drugs between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California, and Canada. Prosecutors say he used multiple aliases, including “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy,” and “James Conrad Kin.”
Later that year, Bondi announced that Wedding had also been indicted for allegedly orchestrating the killing of a federal witness in Colombia to avoid extradition to the U.S. Authorities allege that Wedding and his associates used a Canadian website, The Dirty News, to post the witness’s photograph, enabling his identification. The witness was later followed to a restaurant in Medellín and shot dead.
Criminal History
Wedding had previously been convicted in the United States for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010. Prosecutors believe that after his release, he resumed trafficking operations under the protection of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
He also faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada, dating back to 2015, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Further details are expected as Wedding arrives in the United States and appears in federal court.
