Why feds call Olympic snowboarder a ‘modern-day Pablo Escobar’

Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympian turned alleged drug kingpin who has drawn comparisons to Pablo Escobar and El Chapo, was taken into custody after a 17-month pursuit and more than a decade at large, federal authorities announced Friday.

In two indictments, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California laid out how Wedding, 44, and his associates allegedly trafficked more than $1 billion in cocaine across the U.S. and Canada and orchestrated multiple killings, including the assassination of a key government witness.

Thirty-six people have been charged for their alleged roles in Wedding’s organization, including a Canadian attorney, a crime blogger and multiple hitmen.

Here’s what we know about Wedding, his journey from a footnote in Olympic history to the FBI’s most wanted list, and what’s next in the case.

Who is Ryan Wedding?

Wedding was born into a snow sports family. His grandparents owned a small ski area in Thunder Bay, Ontario, a vibrant port city on Lake Superior. His dad skied competitively in college and his uncle coached Canada’s women’s alpine ski team through the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. Wedding learned to ski before he could walk, according to reports in Canadian news outlets.

When Wedding was 12, his parents moved the family to Coquitlam, a Vancouver suburb, and Wedding switched from skiing to snowboarding. He was a quick study. Three years later, he was named to the Canadian national snowboard team.

At 20, he qualified for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in parallel giant slalom — which would later inspire the name of the FBI’s investigation, «Operation Giant Slalom.» On race days, he carved aggressive lines through the course. In a sport where athletes reach speeds upward of 70 mph, the 6-foot-3 Wedding is not wearing a helmet in photos of him racing in the 2002 Games.

Wedding failed to make it out of the first round of competition and finished 24th. Early in the FBI’s pursuit, ESPN reached out to several of Wedding’s former teammates, coaches and peers in the sport, but none were willing to speak on the record. Multiple Olympians and coaches who represented other countries at the 2002 Games told ESPN they don’t remember him.

a rare 2002 Mercedes CLK-GTR valued at more than $13 million, while Mexican law enforcement seized dozens of rare motorcycles, mostly Ducatis, valued at more than $40 million, including three bikes reportedly raced by Italian MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.

They also found two Canadian national snowboarding medals.

According to the indictments, the FBI recruited one of Wedding’s trusted lieutenants as an informant in 2023, and with the informant’s help, intercepted critical communications between Wedding and a complex network of couriers and truck drivers moving hundreds of kilos of cocaine through the Greater Los Angeles area.

FBI agents also collected evidence showing how Wedding and his organization allegedly ordered the deaths of other drug traffickers. American and Canadian court documents contain details connecting Wedding to the killing of an alleged drug trafficker shot in his driveway in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The court records also describe a hit that matches the killing of a couple in their home in the Toronto suburbs in 2023, which prosecutors say was a case of mistaken identity. Wedding’s organization had sought to retaliate against a person they believed stole 300 kilos of cocaine from them, according to court records.

reported Friday that Wedding turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. According to Patel, Wedding was flown to Southern California’s Ontario Airport and is now in custody.

hiding in the Dominican Republic, while a woman accused of helping Wedding launder money is a resident of Mexico.

The men seen at the restaurant in Medellín remain unidentified. The FBI has published their photos and is asking for information to aid in their identification and capture.