The FBI raised its reward to $15 million for former Olympian Ryan Wedding, accused of leading a violent cartel-linked cocaine network.
The FBI’s hunt for Ryan James Wedding has pushed deep into Mexico, where officials say the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder now hides under cartel protection. The United States has raised the reward for information leading to his capture to 15 million dollars, a figure that shows how dangerous authorities believe he has become.
Wedding, 44, is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and is accused of overseeing a transnational cocaine pipeline that moves drugs from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, into Canada and other parts of the United States. Investigators say his organization works closely with the Sinaloa Cartel and is built around violence, intimidation and money laundering.
This week the U.S. Embassy in Mexico began circulating a Spanish-language video on social media calling Wedding “one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals” and urging people in Mexico to share any tip that could lead to his arrest. The embassy says it believes he is hiding somewhere in Mexico and repeats that the reward of up to 15 million dollars is available to anyone whose information helps bring him in.
From Olympic slopes to cartel power
Two decades ago, Wedding was carving turns on Olympic snow courses in Salt Lake City as part of Canada’s snowboard team. According to U.S. authorities, after that brief athletic career he built a narcotics empire that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine at a time from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to markets across North America.
Officials now describe him as the leader of a violent criminal enterprise that traffics about 60 metric tons of cocaine each year and generates more than one billion dollars in illegal proceeds. They also say he has become the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada, relying on corrupt contacts, shell companies and a network of armed enforcers to protect his business.
Court filings in the United States accuse Wedding of running a continuing criminal enterprise, overseeing money laundering and ordering killings to protect his profits. A federal indictment unsealed in November alleges that he ordered the murder of a witness who was set to testify against him in a narcotics case, placing a bounty on the victim and directing associates to track the man down in Medellín, Colombia, where he was shot dead in a restaurant in January 2025.
He is also charged with directing a 2023 attack in Caledon, Ontario, that left two members of a family dead and another seriously wounded, after his group allegedly blamed them for a stolen drug shipment. Prosecutors say those killings, together with the Medellín shooting, were meant to send a message to anyone who might cooperate with investigators.
Beyond the murder charges, U.S. officials have moved to cut Wedding off from the formal financial system. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned him, his wife and several close associates, saying they used Mexican companies, cryptocurrency and sex work businesses to launder drug money and help set up attacks on rivals and witnesses.
Those sanctions describe a support network in Mexico that includes a former law enforcement officer accused of using police contacts to shield Wedding and help identify targets. Other designated associates are alleged to provide logistics, money movements and cover businesses that sit on top of the cocaine trade.
FBI seeks Ryan Wedding
As the FBI seeks Ryan Wedding, investigators are betting that money and exposure will matter more than fear inside his circle. The reward, which recently rose from 10 to 15 million dollars, is one of the highest currently offered for any fugitive on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.
The FBI describes Wedding as six feet three inches tall and about 240 pounds, with the ability to change his hair, facial hair and style to blend in. Agents say he should be considered armed and dangerous and warn the public not to approach him under any circumstance, urging people instead to contact authorities if they believe they have seen him.
New photos released this year show Wedding with shorter hair, a moustache and visible tattoos, contrasting sharply with older images of a long-haired snowboarder in national team gear. For investigators, those pictures are both a warning and a tool, meant to remind people in Mexico and elsewhere that the quiet foreigner at a café or beach town condo could be one of the world’s most wanted fugitives.
Behind the reward figure and the political speeches is a case built on years of joint work by law enforcement agencies in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Colombia. U.S. prosecutors say the same cross-border system that allowed Wedding’s organization to move cocaine and cash is now being used to chase him, share intelligence and freeze assets linked to his alleged empire.
Wedding remains a fugitive and has not appeared in any court to answer the latest charges. Under U.S. law he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. For families of the people killed in Colombia and Canada, and for communities along the trafficking routes through Mexico, the question now is whether the combination of pressure, sanctions and a record reward will be enough to bring him in alive.
