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Former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who is said to have run a drug ring and orchestrated multiple murders, was seen on video being escorted by law enforcement after being captured by the FBI on Friday.
Wedding was escorted off a plane in handcuffs when he landed in Southern California at Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County surrounded by FBI agents. He will face federal charges.
Wedding, 44, surrendered to authorities after a period of negotiations, sources confirmed to Pakinomist. Although the specific terms of that deal were not known, sources indicated that the one-time Olympian relented after facing mounting pressure that made it impossible for him to continue fleeing from US authorities.
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The FBI has described Wedding as an “extremely violent criminal believed to be responsible for the murder of numerous people overseas.”
Placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in March 2025, Wedding is accused of running a transnational drug trafficking network that “routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and elsewhere in the United States,” according to FBI.
He is also accused of orchestrating several murders and attempted murders as part of his drug trade.
Wedding and 14 other alleged associates were specifically accused of orchestrating the January 2025 killing of a witness who was shot dead at a restaurant in Colombia. He allegedly placed a bounty on the victim’s head, believing the victim’s death would lead to the dismissal of charges against him and the drug trade he allegedly heads, according to a indictment dismissed in November.
After missing out on the 1998 Winter Olympics, Wedding qualified for her first and only Olympic Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
WHO IS RYAN WEDDING? OLYMPIAN WAS ALLEGEDLY MURDERAL DRUG KINGPIN
Ryan Wedding, wanted by the FBI, is seen practicing for the men’s parallel giant slalom at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City, on February 13, 2002. (FBI | REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell)
In his only event, the men’s parallel giant slalom, Wedding finished 24th. Switzerland’s Philipp Schoch won gold, Sweden’s Richard Rikardsson won silver and Chris Klug from the USA took bronze.
After the Olympics, Wedding enrolled at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
Wedding was first linked to criminal activity in 2006. He and another competitive snowboarder were named in a search warrant for a home in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, which was investigated for growing large amounts of marijuana, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Police seized 6,800 marijuana plants from that house, but no one was charged.
Wedding was first arrested in 2009 in the United States after traveling with two friends from Vancouver to California to allegedly buy 24 kilograms of Colombian cocaine.
When Wedding was arraigned, he claimed he volunteered for several cancer agencies, invested in real estate and trained for the 2010 Olympics. But the Canadian Snowboarding Association said he hadn’t competed in years, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Wedding served a four-year prison sentence after agreeing to forfeit more than $121,000 seized during an airport sting and agreeing to drop an appeal of his sentence.
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Ryan Wedding of Canada takes a practice run for the men’s parallel giant slalom at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Park City on February 13, 2002. (REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell)
In 2015, he was charged with new drug offenses in Nova Scotia. That time the police never caught him. He was then on the run until Friday.
Wedding is estimated to have transported over $1 billion in cocaine.
