CNN

Former Olympic snowboarder and FBI Most Wanted fugitive Ryan Wedding arrested

<i>Adam Pretty/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource</i><br/>This February 2002 photo shows Ryan Wedding of Canada competing in the men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding event during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.

By CNN Newsource

Published January 23, 2026 8:40 am

By Josh Campbell, Eric Levenson, Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder and the largest cocaine distributor in Canada, according to officials, has been arrested and is being placed in US custody.

Ryan Wedding was one of FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” fugitives, with a $15 million reward for his capture, after being indicted for allegedly running a criminal enterprise, cocaine trafficking and murder in an operation stretching across the US, Canada, Mexico and Colombia.

According to FBI Director Kash Patel, Wedding was taken into custody in Mexico on Thursday night and is being transported to the US. Officials say Wedding has been hiding in Mexico for over a decade, working for the Sinaloa Cartel and their cocaine operations – shipping the drug from Columbia to the US and Canada.

Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said Wedding’s operation was responsible for more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds. Officials had believed Wedding to be somewhere in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel.

“This operation is the result of tremendous cooperation and team work with the Government of Mexico,” Patel wrote in a post online Friday announcing the arrest. “Special thanks to our amazing partners in Mexico who facilitated this – President Sheinbaum, Secretary Harfuch, Ambassador Ron Johnson, Legat Mexico, and more.”

Competing for Team Canada, Wedding finished as the 24th-best parallel giant slalom snowboarder in the world at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Wedding was taken to the US Friday, arriving at the Ontario International Airport in Southern California where officials, including Patel, gave a press conference following his arrest.

During the press conference, officials said they had been searching for Wedding for over a year and accused the former snowboarder of orchestrating murders including of government officials.

Officials say they seized guns, expensive cars, artwork and other items as part of the arrest. Wedding is expected to appear in federal court as soon as Monday, Patel said during the press conference, referring to the alleged cocaine kingpin as a “modern day Escobar.”

FBI officials say they are still searching for more individuals involved in Wedding’s operations.

Wedding’s arrest was first reported by NBC.

Not Wedding’s first case

This won’t be the first time Wedding faces a judge.

In June 2008, Wedding was arrested along with two other people and accused of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, according to a criminal complaint.

The arrest came after Wedding and associates traveled from Canada to San Diego, California, to buy cocaine as part of a drug trafficking organization based in Vancouver, according to an affidavit. The operation was a sting, though, and FBI agents arrested the trio after the deal was done, the affidavit states. Investigators allegedly found $100,000 in cash in their hotel room, the affidavit states.

His two co-defendants pleaded guilty, according to court records, but Wedding took the case to trial. He was found guilty in November 2009, and in 2010, was sentenced to four years in prison, per court records.

At his sentencing hearing, Wedding invoked his sports background in speaking to the court, saying it was his personal goal to rebuild his reputation.

In October 2024, however, federal prosecutors released a superseding indictment charging Wedding with running a criminal enterprise, cocaine trafficking and murder in an operation stretching across the US, Canada, Mexico and Colombia. The indictment says the enterprise began around 2011, when Wedding was released from prison.

The crimes Wedding is accused of now, though, are even more serious.

Prosecutors accuse him, along with another man, of ordering the killings of several people. They say he directed the November 2023 murders of two members of a family in Ontario “in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment” and of ordering the murder of another person in May 2024 over a drug debt.