The U.S Department of Justice announced a federal indictment of former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding on Thursday, Oct. 17, which accuses him of running a billion-dollar cocaine trafficking operation and ordering the murders of several people.
“Instead of using his privileges that come with being an Olympic athlete to do good for people, he did the opposite,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of the Central District of California, said. “He chose to become a major drug trafficker, and he chose to become a killer.”
Federal authorities said the 43-year-old Wedding’s transnational drug trafficking organization, backed by Mexican cartels, smuggled tons of cocaine across the U.S. and Canadian borders for more than a decade, using hitmen to kill people who got in their way.
“These individuals ran what we call the Wedding criminal enterprise,” Estrada said. “This criminal enterprise was extremely prolific and ruthless. By prolific, they moved massive amounts of cocaine. They were one of the largest suppliers of cocaine to Canada and the United States. They move an average of 60 tons of cocaine per year. By ruthless, they were killers. Anyone who got in their way, they would target with violence, including murder.”
Prosecutors said all victims of the assassins were shot execution-style in Canada, so their family members could see them murdered, including two parents in Canada, who were mistakenly thought to have stolen a drug shipment. The mother and father were shot in front of their daughter, who was also shot several times but survived.
Authorities seized cocaine, guns, ammunition, cash and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency.
Wedding is among four of the named 16 defendants in the indictment who are still on the loose and considered to be fugitives.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and extradition. FBI agents believe that Wedding is still living in Mexico.
If convicted of murder and attempted murder charges, Wedding reportedly faces a mandatory minimum of life behind bars.
Charges against the alleged criminals range from drug counts, running a criminal enterprise and murders connected to the drug operation.
