Hindustan Times News
Where is Ryan Wedding? $15mn reward offered for former Canadian Olympian on FBI's top 10 most wanted list
By
Shweta Kukreti
Updated on: Nov 19, 2025 11:37 pm IST
Ryan Wedding, listed as one of FBI's most-wanted fugitives, faces multiple charges including homicide. Authorities believe he may be in Mexico.
FBI fugitive Ryan Wedding: The FBI, in collaboration with the RCMP and various international agencies, has declared a reward of $15 million for the capture of Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who has become a fugitive. The officials also announced arrest of seven Canadians in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec.
Ryan Wedding, former Olympian and current FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.(US Dept of Treasury)
Ryan Wedding, former Olympian and current FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.(US Dept of Treasury)
During a joint news conference held in Washington, D.C., alongside Canadian officials, US Attorney-General Pam Bondi stated that authorities have collaborated closely with international partners. Bondi revealed a new indictment that details additional charges, such as murder and witness tampering, against further alleged associates of Wedding, and raised the reward for information leading to Wedding's capture from $10 million to $15 million.
“We arrested 12 people yesterday in an international takedown,” US attorney for central California Bill Essayli informed reporters. He mentioned that one of those arrested was a Canadian lawyer representing Wedding.
Officials informed that the total number of individuals arrested and sought in relation to the Wedding network has now exceeded 30.
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Who is Ryan Wedding?
Wedding, an alleged Canadian drug lord who represented Canada as a snowboarder during the 2002 Olympic Games in Utah, is listed as one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives.
Sanctions announced on Ryan Wedding
Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department has also declared that it is imposing sanctions on Wedding, along with his alleged accomplices, and is confiscating millions of dollars from them, The Globe and Mail reported.
Law enforcement officials described him on Wednesday as an individual who enforces drug debts and loyalty through murder – including an alleged murder in January 2025 of a man in Colombia who is believed to have betrayed Wedding’s network.
“Ryan Wedding is a modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He is a modern day iteration of El Chapo,” said FBI Director Kash Patel during a press briefing.
“He will not evade justice,” he added.
Charges against Ryan Wedding
Wedding is facing federal charges connected to three homicides, a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, and for “leading a continuing criminal enterprise.”
On March 6, the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office declared that Wedding, 44, had been included on the list, referring to him as “a very dangerous man.” He was indicted in the previous year in a federal court in Los Angeles on several charges, which include operating a continuing criminal enterprise, committing murder related to the enterprise, and various drug offenses, as stated by the FBI.
Here's what FBI said
Wedding, known by various aliases such as "El Jefe," "Giant," "Public Enemy," "James Conrad King," and "Jesse King," is sought after for allegedly operating a transnational drug trafficking organization that consistently transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other areas within the United States, as well as for orchestrating several murders and an attempted murder in connection with these drug offenses, as stated by the FBI.
“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,” remarked Akil Davis, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, in a press release statement.
Where is Ryan Wedding right now?
While the exact location of Wedding remains uncertain, it is thought that he could be in Mexico. Law enforcement agencies on either side of the border have said that Wedding has received protection from the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, an organization that has recently been classified as a terrorist group by both the Canadian and US governments.
Nevertheless, investigators have not dismissed the chance of him being located in other regions, such as the US, Canada, Honduras, Guatemala, or Costa Rica.
Wedding's purported second-in-command, fellow Canadian Andrew Clark, was apprehended in Mexico last year by local authorities. Clark was one of the 29 fugitives who were extradited to the US from Mexico in late February 2025.
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