Ryan James Wedding went from Olympic athlete to drug kingpin. Photos: CP Photos: COC/Andre Forget//FBI
Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder from Canada who was allegedly one of the men behind a massive cocaine trafficking ring, was arrested on Thursday night in Mexico.
According to reports, Wedding is believed to be a member of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel and has been hiding in Mexico for over 10 years. Kash Patel, the Director of the FBI, said that he was running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation.
“Just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco trafficker in modern times,” Patel said in a post on X. “He is a modern day El Chapo. He is a modern day Pablo Escobar.”
Wedding, now 43, competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City under the Canadian flag. He placed 24th in the men’s parallel giant slalom, but eventually became interested in moving a different kind of snow. Court documents state that six years after his stint at the Games, he went to San Diego with two partners to buy cocaine. The dealer, however, was an undercover FBI agent and Wedding was promptly arrested and found guilty in 2009 of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was in prison until 2011, then got out and fired everything right back up. Over the next few years, he allegedly became a prolific drug trafficker.
FBI Director Kash Patel announces the capture of Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian and accused drug lord, after years on the run.
“Just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco trafficker in modern times,” Patel said.… pic.twitter.com/GZgAFQqvd5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 23, 2026
In November of 2025, in addition to his charges of running an international drug trafficking ring, he was hit with additional charges that said he was connected to the murder of a federal witness.
“Wedding, who also went under the aliases ‘El Jefe,’ ‘Giant,’ and ‘Public Enemy,’ is accused of leading an organized crime group that not only shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, but also orchestrated multiple murders,” wrote Cooper Geegan. “According to the Central California U.S. Attorney’s Office, ‘The cocaine shipments were transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where the cocaine trafficking organization’s operatives would store the cocaine in stash houses, before delivering it to the transportation network couriers for transportation to Canada using long-haul semi-trucks.'”
Wedding made it onto the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Image: FBI
In March, Wedding found himself on the FBI’s Most Wanted list with a $15-million reward that led to his arrest. Wedding has now been flown to the U.S., where “he will face justice,” according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Wedding will make his first court appearance on Monday, which is expected to be in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. His organization is alleged to be responsible for shipping some 60 tons of cocaine through Southern California and “orchestrating multiple murders of victims and government witnesses.”
