Ryan Wedding
Ryan Wedding | |
|---|---|
| Born |
14 September 1981 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | |
Ryan Wedding is a Canadian sports figure, who subsequently made the FBI's most wanted list.[2][3] The bounty for information leading to his arrest is $15 million USD -- the highest of any of the ten individuals on the list.[4]
Wedding competed, for Canada, as a snowboarder, at the 2002 Olympics.
Appearance
[edit | edit source]Commentators routinely comment on how physically imposing Wedding is. Even though it has been over 2 decades since he was an Olympic athlete, he is still very muscular. He is tall, over six foot 3 inches, and weighs over 240 pounds. Associates in the drug cartels nicknamed him "The Giant".
Sports career
[edit | edit source]Wedding stood 24th in his Olympic snowboarding event, at the 2002 Olympics.[5]
Drug career
[edit | edit source]2010 conviction in San Diego
[edit | edit source]Wedding's trial began in September, 2009, in San Diego, California.[6] He was convicted in May of 2010, and received a four year sentence.[5]
Murder accusations
[edit | edit source]Wedding has been accused of being behind multiple drug-related killings
rough work
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1
Michele McPhee (2025-08-12). "Face-Off: Ex-Olympic Snowboarder Turned Narco Kingpin Likely Got Plastic Surgery". LA magazine.
The 43-year-old, whose aliases include “El Jefe” and “the Giant,” is accused of orchestrating a sprawling drug-trafficking network that allegedly moved hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico, and into the U.S. where it was stashed at safe houses in Los Angeles before it was transported into Canada.
- ↑
Ingrid Vasquez (2025-12-10). "Olympic Snowboarder Turned 'Modern-Day' Pablo Escobar, According to FBI Director Kash Patel, Seen in Newly Released Photo". AOL News. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
He now holds a spot on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List for "allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada, and other locations in the United States,"
- ↑
Calvi Leon (2024-10-18). "'Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord': FBI alleges former Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding ordered Caledon killings, ran massive cocaine ring". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2025-04-08. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
Clark, one of 16 people charged in a sprawling FBI investigation announced last fall, is accused of running a transnational drug operation with ex-Olympic snowboarder and one of America’s most-wanted men, Ryan Wedding. According to U.S. authorities, the Canadian pair led a billion-dollar criminal network that worked with Mexican cartels to routinely smuggle cocaine into Canada and ordered hits on enemies of the organization, including the mistaken identity killings of an Indian couple in Caledon in 2023.
- ↑
Alanna Durkin Richer (2025-12-26). "FBI tweets pic of ex-Olympian busted for San Diego drug deal who's Top 10 Most Wanted". The Associated Press via MS Now. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
Authorities are now offering up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of Wedding, who’s on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. He’s believed to be living in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, whom authorities say he’s working with closely to funnel massive quantities of drugs into Canada and the U.S.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
Kim Bolan (2010-05-06). "Former Olympic snowboarder sentenced for drug smuggling". Global News. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
And now the convicted cocaine smuggler will miss the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia after being handed a four-year prison term in a San Diego courtroom Thursday.
- ↑
Kim Bolan (2009-09-08). "Witness Against Ryan Wedding a Murder Suspect, Court Documents Say". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
The long-awaited cocaine smuggling trial of former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding is set to get underway in San Diego Tuesday.
- ↑ "Ryan Wedding, Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, charged in death of federal witness". NBC News. 2025-11-19. Archived from the original on 2025-11-19. Retrieved 2025-12-23.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
- ↑ "Ryan Wedding Olympic Results". Archived from the original on 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
- ↑ "Snowboarder charged with trafficking". Vancouver Sun via Press Reader. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ↑ "Ryan Wedding". Olympedia. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ↑ Calvi Leon (2025-03-27). "'Second-in-command' to Canadian Olympian turned alleged drug lord pleads not guilty to charges including four Ontario murders". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2025-12-26.
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