Ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding pleads not guilty to running billion-dollar drug empire, murder charges

Former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who had been 1 of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives, pleaded not blameworthy Monday to charges that helium ran a billion-dollar drug-trafficking ring, days aft his apprehension successful Mexico.

Wedding, who was captured with the assistance of Mexican authorities earlier being brought to the U.S. past week to look charges connected to cause trafficking and murder, appeared earlier U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Early successful a national tribunal successful Santa Ana, California, wherever helium entered a not blameworthy plea. 

In this courtroom sketch, erstwhile Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, left, and his defence lawyer Anthony Colombo, middle, look earlier Judge John D. Early astatine the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse successful Santa Ana, California, connected Jan. 26, 2026. (Bill Robles via AP)

Wedding was indicted successful 2024 connected national charges of moving a transgression enterprise, murder, conspiring to administer cocaine and different crimes. He is accused of moving with Mexican cartels to determination cocaine obtained successful Colombia to the U.S. and from determination distributing the drugs to different states and into Canada. 

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According to the indictment, Wedding is accused of moving arsenic overmuch arsenic 60 tons of cocaine betwixt those countries, and his cause trafficking radical is believed to beryllium the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada.

FBI Director Kash Patel, who was connected manus for Wedding’s arrest, said during a quality league connected Friday that Wedding worked nether the extortion of the Sinaloa cartel. 

"Just to archer you however atrocious of a feline Ryan Wedding is, helium went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco-trafficker successful modern times," Patel said connected the tarmac of Ontario International Airport connected Friday. "He's a modern-day El Chapo. He is simply a modern-day Pablo Escobar, and helium thought helium could evade justice.

Ryan Wedding, wanted by the FBI, was seen taking a signifier tally for the men's parallel elephantine slalom of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games successful Park City, Feb. 13, 2002. (FBI; Reuters/Jeff J Mitchell)

KASH PATEL SAYS OLYMPIC KINGPIN RYAN WEDDING'S CAPTURE IS LATEST SUCCESS IN TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN ON CRIME

"This idiosyncratic and his enactment and the Sinaloa cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America and killed excessively galore of our younker and corrupted excessively galore of our citizens. And that ends today." 

Wedding besides faces execution charges, including allegations that helium orchestrated the 2023 killings of 2 members of a Canadian household successful retaliation for a stolen cause shipment, and for ordering a sidesplitting implicit a cause indebtedness successful 2024.

Wedding and 14 different alleged associates were besides accused of orchestrating the January 2025 execution of a witnesser who was changeable and killed astatine a edifice successful Colombia. He allegedly placed a bounty connected the victim’s head, reasoning the victim's decease would pb to the dismissal of charges against him and the drug-trafficking ringing helium allegedly heads, according to an indictment unsealed successful November.

Former Olympian Ryan Wedding is escorted aft being captured for alleged cause trafficking. (Courtesy of the FBI)

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Mexican officials claimed Wedding turned himself successful past week, but his defence attorney, Anthony Colombo, disputed that extracurricular the tribunal connected Monday, claiming that the erstwhile Olympian was surviving successful Mexico, not hiding, and that helium "was arrested."

"He did not surrender." 

The justice ordered that Wedding stay successful custody. He is owed backmost successful tribunal Feb. 11, and a proceedings day was acceptable for March 24. Wedding faces abstracted cause charges successful Canada.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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