Fugitive Olympic snowboarder faces new accusations as feds raise reward for his capture to $15M

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding was slapped with 2 further counts of witnesser tampering, intimidation, murder, wealth laundering, and cause trafficking and national officials raised the reward for his seizure to $15 cardinal connected Wednesday.

Wedding, 44, and 14 different alleged associates were accused of orchestrating the January 2025 execution of a witnesser who was changeable and killed astatine a edifice successful Colombia. Officials said Wedding placed a bounty connected the victim’s caput reasoning their decease would pb to the dismissal of charges against him and the drug-trafficking ringing helium is allegedly the caput of.

Wedding is connected the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List and is described arsenic "extremely convulsive transgression believed to beryllium liable for the execution of galore radical abroad," according to national officials.

"You bash not get to beryllium a cause kingpin and evade the law," FBI Director Kash Patel said. "Make nary mistake astir it. Ryan Wedding is simply a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He’s a modern-day iteration of ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. This Justice Department and this FBI volition enactment with our Canadian counterparts and authorities officials crossed the satellite to bring him to justice.

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Ryan Wedding of Canada takes a signifier tally for the men's parallel elephantine slalom of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games successful Park City connected Feb. 13, 2002.   (REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell)

"He is liable for engineering a narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism programme that we person not seen successful a agelong time. He volition not evade justice. We are present contiguous due to the fact that this Department of Justice down the lawyer general’s (Pam Bondi) superb enactment and the lawman lawyer wide person made it wide to the American people, with the indictments they person brought, that instrumentality enforcement agencies similar this FBI volition pb the effort to spell retired determination and marque definite these animals are brought to justice."

Patel added that anyone who has accusation connected Wedding’s whereabouts, "Now is the clip to talk up."

Officials said a website called "The Dirty News" was besides unopen down arsenic portion of their investigation. Officials said the tract was utilized to station representation of the unfortunate of the January execution and his woman online successful bid to beryllium "hunted down and killed."

"Your days are numbered. Our agents and prosecutors volition relentlessly prosecute you and anyone who assists you and bring you to justice. Not conscionable anywhere, we’re going to bring you to justness successful the United States of America," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, Central District of California.

Wedding is allegedly liable for trafficking tons of cocaine done Colombia and Mexico to beryllium distributed successful the U.S. and Canada and uses cryptocurrency to fell his wealth. The FBI has said that Wedding has ordered dozens of murders successful North America and Latin America.

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Ryan Wedding remains connected the lam. (FBI)

"Protecting national witnesses from retaliation is halfway to the department’s mission. It’s astir idiosyncratic safety, but more, it’s astir protecting the regularisation of instrumentality itself," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

Wedding participated successful the 2002 Olympics successful Salt Lake City aft missing retired connected the 1998 Games. It was the lone Olympics helium competed in.

In his lone event, the men's parallel elephantine slalom, Wedding finished successful 24th place. Switzerland's Philipp Schoch won gold, Sweden's Richard Rikardsson won metallic and Chris Klug of the U.S. took bronze.

Wedding was archetypal linked to transgression enactment successful 2006. He and different competitory snowboarder were named successful a hunt warrant for a location successful Maple Ridge, British Columbia, that was investigated for increasing ample quantities of marijuana, according to The Vancouver Sun.

Police seized 6,800 marijuana plants from that house, but nary 1 was charged.

Wedding was arrested for the archetypal clip successful 2009 successful the U.S. aft traveling with 2 friends from Vancouver to California to allegedly bargain 24 kilograms of Colombian cocaine. The FBI determined Wedding was moving for a cause lord successful Vancouver astatine the time.

He served a four-year jailhouse condemnation aft agreeing to forfeit much than $121,000 seized during an airdrome sting and agreeing to driblet an entreaty of his conviction.

In 2015, Wedding faced caller charges connected drug-related offenses successful Nova Scotia. Since then, however, he’s been connected the lam.

U.S. investigators believed Wedding was being protected by the Sinaloa Cartel successful Mexico and resumed trafficking soon aft helium was released from prison. Federal authorities archetypal issued an apprehension warrant for Wedding successful September 2024.

Wedding is believed to besides spell by the aliases "El Jefe," "Giant," "Public Enemy," "James Conrad King" and "Jesse King" and is estimated to person transported implicit $1 cardinal successful cocaine.

Wedding and alleged accomplice Andrew Clark, who was apprehended successful October 2024 and extradited earlier this year, are accused of coordinating the execution of an Ontario household "in retaliation for a stolen cause shipment that passed done Southern California."

Canada's Ryan Wedding successful the 2002 Olympics. (Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images)

The FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police allege Wedding and Clark coordinated a November 2023 treble homicide successful Ontario involving an guiltless mates successful a mistaken-identity killing, according to the FBI.

Wedding and Clark are besides accused of coordinating the execution of different idiosyncratic successful May implicit a cause debt.

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The execution and transgression endeavor charges against Wedding transportation a mandatory minimum punishment of beingness successful a national prison.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report. 

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