Olympian Ryan James Wedding Wanted by FBI for Allegedly Running Deadly Drug Trafficking Operation

Ryan James Wedding allegedly went down a slippery slope.

The former Olympic snowboarder—who competed for Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games—is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on drug trafficking charges, according to the organization’s Most Wanted list as well as a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Wedding is charged with eight felonies, the release states, including two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to export cocaine, one count of leading a continuing criminal enterprise, three counts of murder, and one count of attempt to commit murder.

“Ryan James Wedding is wanted for allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation,” his FBI Most Wanted entry reads, “that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada, and other locations in the United States.”

It continues, “Additionally, it is alleged that Wedding was involved in orchestrating multiple murders in furtherance of these drug crimes.”

E! News has reached out to the U.S. Attorney Office for comment but has not yet heard back.

Speculating that the 43-year-old may be residing in Mexico, the FBI Most Wanted entry confirms that a warrant for his arrest was issued on Sept. 17 and that the Bureau is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to Wedding’s, arrest, apprehension and extradition.

According to the U.S attorney’s office, Wedding is one of 16 defendants indicted by prosecutors in California for running the alleged drug trafficking operation.

Prosecutors claim Wedding and his colleagues shipped up to 827 pounds of cocaine in a single month, moving it from Mexico to southern California, and then to Ontario, Canada.  

As of Oct.18, a Canadian man named Andrew Clark, 34, was arrested in Mexico by local law enforcement and detained in connection to the drug trafficking indictment. In addition to facing the same charges as Wedding, Clark was charged with an additional count of murder.

E! News is in the process of locating legal representation for Clark for comment. 

Per the release, several other members of the operation have been arrested, though the release doesn’t specify where they were apprehended, and are expected to appear in court in the coming weeks.

If convicted, Wedding and Clark face up a mandatory minimum penalty of life in prison for the murder and attempted murder charges, as well as for the continuing criminal enterprise charges, per the release. The drug charges carry mandatory minimums of between 10 and 15 years.

Of the drug operation, Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Matthew Allen said within the U.S. Attorney’s press release, “The Wedding Drug Trafficking Organization and its unremitting, callous and greed-driven crimes has been operating for far too long. They have triggered an avalanche of violent crimes, including brutal murders.”

He continued, “Wedding, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a life of incessant crimes.”

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