The FBI has added Ryan Wedding, a 43-year-old former Canadian Olympian snowboarder, to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
Turns out, bro is allegedly a drug lord. If any sport is going to produce a drug lord, it seems reasonable that it was snowboarding.
Wedding became a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug Cartel and is even known by some wild nicknames, such as “El Jefe,” “Giant,” or “Public Enemy.”
The FBI accused Wedding of allegedly running an international drug trafficking ring that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Los Angeles to Canada using semi-trucks.
🚨 The #FBI has named Ryan James Wedding to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. Wedding is wanted for his alleged involvement in a large-scale transnational drug trafficking operation and orchestrating multiple murders linked to his criminal enterprise: https://t.co/VD2Z9BLu5F pic.twitter.com/jV1796iMGu
— FBI (@FBI) March 6, 2025
From Olympic Athlete To The FBI’s Most Wanted List
Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, faces charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine, murder linked to his drug enterprise, and attempted murder.
Authorities allege he ordered multiple killings to eliminate competitors.
“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,” FBI Los Angeles chief Akil Davis said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department is offering a $10 million reward for his capture, supplemented by an additional $50,000 from the FBI. Wedding remains at large, possibly in Mexico, following a prior cocaine conspiracy conviction in 2010.
The announcement underscores the FBI’s intensified efforts to combat drug trafficking across North American borders under new director Kash Patel.
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Crazy Story
Wedding competed for Team Canada in snowboarding men’s parallel giant slalom in the Salt Lake City games. He finished 24th out of 32 overall competitors.
As Bounding Into Sports has chronicled on these pages, numerous athletes have suffered scandals and somehow made it back into their sports.
That said, I’m pretty sure a drug lord named “El Jefe” won’t be competing on the slopes in the next Olympics. Or even carrying the torch at opening ceremonies.
He is, after all, allegedly a murderer.
“The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, coupled with a major reward offer by the State Department, will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger,” Davis said.
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