Ryan Wedding once raced with the world’s best snowboarders. In 2002, at the age of 21, he traveled to Salt Lake City as part of Canada’s Olympic team to compete in the men’s parallel giant slalom, ultimately finishing 24th out of 32 competitors. But in the two decades since, his life has taken a dramatic turn from those Olympic heights: Wedding, the alleged head of a billion-dollar drug ring, is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and the subject of an escalating manhunt.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
The former Olympian is allegedly the “largest distributor of cocaine” in Canada and operates “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations” in the world, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a Wednesday press briefing, where she announced the unsealing of a new indictment against Wedding. He now faces additional charges on accusations that he ordered the murder of a federal witness who was prepared to testify against him.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday charges Wedding with counts of witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking.
The State Department has raised the reward for information leading to Wedding’s capture from $10 million to $15 million, and is offering $2 million for information that leads to the arrest of others alleged to have been involved in the murder of the witness.
The Treasury Department also placed sanctions against Wedding on Wednesday.
“Treasury is joining with the FBI and the Department of Justice to cut Wedding and his criminal partners off from the U.S. financial system and help dismantle the network they rely on,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said. “Our goal is simple: make it difficult for criminals like this to profit from poisoning our communities.”
The Department of Justice announced the arrest of ten people connected to Wedding as a part of an enforcement action titled “Operation Giant Slalom,” including Deepak Paradkar, an Ontario lawyer who allegedly advised Wedding to murder the FBI witness Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, who was shot in January.
In addition to Paradkar and Wedding, 17 other defendants were charged in the unsealed indictment for charges pertaining to their involvement with Wedding’s alleged criminal enterprise.
“Wedding collaborates closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, a foreign terrorist organization, to flood not only American but also Canadian communities with cocaine coming from Colombia,” Bondi said at the press briefing Wednesday. “His organization is responsible for importing approximately six metric tons of cocaine a year into Los Angeles via semi trucks from Mexico.”
Wedding was previously indicted in Los Angeles on multiple charges, including running a criminal enterprise, committing murder, and various drug-related crimes. He is accused of ordering the murders of multiple people in Canada, along with his apparent right-hand man, fellow Canadian national Andrew Clark, according to the FBI.
In 2010, Wedding was convicted on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to four years in prison. Since then, he has emerged as a powerful narcotics kingpin, according to law enforcement.
“Make no mistake about it. Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “He’s a modern-day iteration of El Chapo Guzmán.”
Wedding is currently hiding in Mexico, according to the Treasury Department.
The post The Hunt for Former Olympian Turned Alleged Drug Kingpin Ryan Wedding Escalates appeared first on TIME.
