Olympic Snowboarder Turned Alleged Drug Lord Surrenders to FBI

A Canadian Olympic snowboarder who is accused of running a cocaine-trafficking ring—and who was on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” list—has been arrested.

Ryan James Wedding, 44, “voluntarily surrendered” at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Thursday, according to a social media post from Mexican security minister Omar García Harfuch. He had been believed to be hiding in Mexico for over a decade, according to a post from FBI director Kash Patel.

Wedding is accused of “running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada – as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel,” according to Patel’s post.

“He went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco trafficker in modern times,” Patel said during a press conference Friday. “He is the modern day El Chapo, he is the modern day Pablo Escobar.”

Wedding competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City for Canada, where he finished 24th overall in the parallel giant slalom. His initial court appearance will take place Monday in Los Angeles federal court.

In June 2024, Wedding and Andrew Clark—his second in command—were charged with running a criminal enterprise; committing murder in connection with that enterprise; and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine. That September, those charges were augmented in an indictment that accused Wedding, Clark, and 14 additional defendants of attempted murder and alleged they arranged the shipment of roughly 60 tons of cocaine annually through Colombia, Mexico, California, and Canada with long-haul semitrucks. 

Last March, Wedding was added to the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” list, with the U.S. federal government offering a $10 million reward for information that could lead to his arrest. In November, a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed charging him and others, the same day 10 defendants accused of being involved in the enterprise were arrested. 

In total 36 people have been arrested for their alleged roles in the drug-trafficking organization, Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said during Friday’s press conference. Davis noted that the FBI, in partnership with other law enforcement agencies, including in Canada and Mexico, have seized “mountains of drugs,” as well as cash, weapons, a Mercedes-Benz, dozens of motorcycles, valuable artwork and jewelry as part of the overall investigation.

There are still defendants on the lam, Davis said, and the government is offering a $2 million reward for information leading to additional arrests.

“While we’re happy about this victory, we have a lot of work ahead of us to prosecute this case and continue the investigation,” he said.