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Ryan Wedding: From the Olympics to the FBI's Most Wanted List
- Morgan McBride
- Jan 31
- 7 min read
Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder is responsible for trafficking multi-ton quantities of cocaine through Colombia and Mexico for distribution in the United States and Canada.
Editor’s Note: The individual discussed has been charged with alleged offenses. These are accusations only, and the person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Information in this article is drawn from court records, previously published news articles, and law enforcement statements, which reflect allegations rather than established facts.
With aliases like “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” “Jesse King,” and FBI director Kash Patel’s description as a “modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar,” Ryan Wedding has developed a notorious reputation entrenched in the world of violence and drug trafficking.
Wedding’s transnational drug trafficking organization spanned from Colombia through Mexico, and into the United States and Canada. However, his journey began on the slopes as a professional snowboarder bound for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Wedding On the Slopes
Born on September 14, 1981, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Ryan Wedding was raised amongst a family of skiers. With an evident skill for snowboarding, Wedding made the Canadian national snowboarding team at the age of 15. In the years that followed, he competed in snowboarding events around the world — including Italy, France, Chile, Austria, and Japan.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bobby Allison, a former national champion ski racer, spoke about Ryan Wedding, stating that, “He had no fear. A lot of kids, they want to go fast, but they don’t really want to go fast. They hold something back, because there’s a little bit of fear there of falling. Ryan had none of that.”
Although Ryan had high aspirations for success at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, he finished 24th in the world in the parallel giant slalom snowboarding event. He gave up snowboarding professionally soon after his disappointing performance at the Olympics.
Post-Olympics, Ryan Wedding enrolled at Simon Fraser University near Vancouver, Canada, which led to him working as a club bouncer and entering the drug underworld. Wedding dropped out of university after two years, and by 2006, authorities uncovered that Wedding was operating a marijuana grow operation on a suburban property entitled Eighteen Carrot Farms. On September 22, 2006, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided the property and seized around 6,800 marijuana plants, dried cannabis valued at around ten million dollars, a shotgun, and ammunition. Yet because Ryan Wedding wasn’t found on the property during the raid, he was never charged in connection with the operation. However, his venture into the criminal underworld only grew from there.
Wedding’s Operations
According to court documents, Wedding’s crime spree began in 2008, as he traveled to San Diego, California, with two other men to buy cocaine. The dealer that the men had allegedly arranged to meet with was working undercover for the FBI.
While his two co-defendants pleaded guilty, Ryan took his case to trial, where he was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in November 2009. Ryan made a statement at his sentencing hearing, where he said, “What I did was completely out of character for me, and it is a personal mission of mine to rebuild my reputation. As an athlete, I was always taught that there are no second chances, and, well, I’m here asking for exactly that.”
He was ultimately sentenced to 48 months in federal prison, yet court records show he was released in December 2011 after serving just over half of his original sentence.
Soon after his release, in December 2011, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police filed charges against Ryan Wedding in Toronto and Montreal for conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to traffic, and trafficking in cocaine, which led to a new warrant being issued for his arrest.
Official documents show that Ryan Wedding, his alleged second-in-command Andrew Clark, and others conspired to move hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from the United States into Canada using long-haul semi-trucks.
Over the years, Wedding has laundered his illicit profits through an extensive transatlantic network of businesses and associates, transforming drug revenue into luxury assets — namely cars and motorcycles — that are concealed around the world.
Hitman Activity
On November 20, 2023, two parents were murdered in front of their daughter, who was also significantly injured, in a case of mistaken identity. According to federal prosecutors, Ryan Wedding and Andrew Clark allegedly ordered the retaliatory murder of a Canadian drug trafficker, believing the driver had stolen 300 kilos of cocaine from them. However, the hired assassin crew broke into a house that the family was renting, fatally shooting the two victims and seriously injuring a third, mistakenly believing they were family members of the co-conspirator.
According to Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, who spent months in the hospital recovering from being shot 13 times, a man broke into her family’s rental home and opened fire. Jaspreet had been shot repeatedly from her shoulder down to her legs, and underwent an 18-hour surgery to remove the bullets. Her father, Jagtar Sidhu, was pronounced dead at the scene, while her mother, Harbhajan Sidhu, died later in the hospital.
According to authorities, the murder of the Sidhus had been ordered by Ryan Wedding and Andrew Clark. Both men were charged with murder in connection with this violent attack.
The murder of the Sidhus did not hamper Ryan Wedding’s violent activity, as two individuals were killed — one in April 2024 and the other in May 2024 — at the orders of members of Wedding’s organization, based on a timeline presented by ABC News.
Such activity continued in January 2025, when assassins allegedly hired by Ryan Wedding carried out the murder of a U.S. federal witness at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia. Allegedly, Wedding’s attorney advised Wedding and Clark that if a federal witness were killed, then the federal charges against them “would necessarily be dismissed.” Based on reports, Wedding placed a bounty of up to five million dollars on the witness in exchange for “any person locating and killing” the individual. After confirmation of the witness’s death, Ryan Wedding allegedly facilitated an approximately $500,000 payment to members of the conspiracy in Colombia through an encrypted platform, according to the indictment.
Wanted & On the FBI’s Radar
According to the FBI, Ryan Wedding was wanted on suspicion of shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine routinely from Colombia to the United States and Canada, and for orchestrating multiple murders.
Andrew Clark, allegedly Ryan’s second-in-command, was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In March 2025, Ryan Wedding was added to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list of fugitives, and a fifteen-million-dollar reward was offered for any information leading to his arrest and/or prosecution.
The FBI, later that same month, executed the second phase of a law enforcement action called “Operation Giant Slalom.” On November 18, 2025, ten defendants linked to Ryan Wedding’s operations were arrested.
Deepak Balwant Paradkar, Atna Ohna, Gursewak Singh Bal, Allistair Chapman, Ahmad Nabil Zitoun, Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez, Yulieth Katherine Tejada, Edwin Basora-Hernandez, Wilson Riascos, Rolan Sokolovski
The Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Akil Davis, said, “‘Operation Giant Slalom’ is a dynamic international investigation and involves dedicated partners collaborating in multiple countries with the shared goal of capturing Wedding, finding justice for several murder victims — including a cooperating witness — and ridding communities in North America of deadly drugs.”
Then, on November 19, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Ryan Wedding, along with nine individuals and nine entities closely linked to his organization. Yet, Ryan Wedding remained on the run, and suspicions grew that he was hiding in Mexico under the protection of the notorious Sinaloa cartel.
Capture or Surrender?
Officials in Mexico stated that he turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on January 22, 2026, and was flown to California. However, differing narratives of Wedding’s arrest/surrender arose.
According to the U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, on January 23, 2026, “The surrender of Ryan Wedding was a direct result of pressure applied by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement working in close coordination and cooperation. … Today marks a concrete step against transnational criminal organizations, cartels, and narco-terrorists, and is testimony to the collaboration between President Trump and President Sheinbaum to hold criminals accountable wherever they operate.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum furthered this sentiment on January 26, 2026, when she stated that Ryan Wedding was not captured in a planned joint operation between Mexico and the United States, but rather that Wedding turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
However, Ryan Wedding’s lawyer, Anthony Colombo, declared that, “He [Ryan Wedding] was apprehended. He was arrested. And so any spin that the government of Mexico is putting on this that he surrendered is inaccurate. And I think that if there’s anyone in a position to know how his apprehension and arrest went down is his counsel.”
It remains unclear exactly how Ryan Wedding’s capture or surrender transpired, but he is now in the custody of the U.S. government.
What’s Next for Ryan Wedding?
In his first court appearance after his arrest in Mexico, according to reports from the media, Ryan Wedding appeared relaxed, smiling with his attorney and occasionally at the media and FBI agents as he stretched his unshackled arms. Appearing in court in Santa Ana, California, Wedding’s attorney did not request bail, but stated that they may do so at another date.
Ryan Wedding has pleaded not guilty to all 17 felony charges laid against him, including drug trafficking, witness tampering, and conspiracy to commit murder. If convicted of the continuing criminal enterprise charge, one of his many charges, he would face a mandatory minimum of life in prison.
He is scheduled to reappear in court on February 11, 2026, so that both parties in the case can discuss whether the trial date of March 24th is a realistic option.
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The execution of this article was based on numerous journalistic articles and press releases linked below.
Sources:
https://mx.usembassy.gov/ryan-weddings-surrender-and-u-s-mexico-cooperation/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/06/us/ryan-wedding-snowboarder-fbi-most-wanted
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/topten-history/hires_images/wedding.jpg/view
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/ryan-wedding-snowboarder-arrested-fbi-cocaine
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/caledon-shooting-1.7111014
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/caledon-sidhu-murders-shooter-unidentified-1.7356505
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ryan-wedding-plea-next-steps-9.7062285
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