Former Canadian Olympic Snowboarder Ryan Wedding Arrested After Years on FBI’s Most Wanted List

Ex-Olympian Faces U.S. Federal Charges Tied to International Drug Trafficking and Murder

By: Haitian Prime News|January 24, 2026|Los Angeles | Mexico City

U.S. authorities have arrested Ryan James Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who had been one of the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives, ending a years-long international manhunt tied to allegations of large-scale drug trafficking and the killing of a federal witness.

Wedding, 44, who represented Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was taken into custody in Mexico and transferred to U.S. authorities, according to federal officials. He is now facing multiple charges in U.S. federal court, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine, operating a transnational criminal enterprise, and murder in connection with the silencing of a cooperating witness.

Investigators allege Wedding was a central figure in an international cocaine trafficking network that moved drugs from Colombia through Mexico into the United States and Canada. Prosecutors say the operation relied on established criminal organizations and used violence and intimidation to protect its activities.

The FBI placed Wedding on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in 2025, citing both the scale of the alleged drug operation and his role in orchestrating violent crimes. At the time, U.S. authorities offered a multi-million-dollar reward for information leading to his capture.

Federal officials described the arrest as the result of extensive cooperation between U.S., Mexican, Canadian, and regional law-enforcement agencies. Wedding is expected to make his initial appearance in a U.S. federal court in Southern California, where a judge will determine detention and pre-trial proceedings.

Court records available at the time of publication did not list legal counsel for Wedding. Prosecutors have emphasized that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources

Reuters Associated Press NBC Los Angeles FBI statements and federal court filings