Olympic Snowboarder Becomes One Of FBI's Most-Wanted Fugitives

LOS ANGELES, CA — An Olympic snowboarder who built an international criminal empire by commissioning murders and shipping more than a 1,000 pounds of cocaine through the Southland is one the nation's most wanted fugitives, the FBI announced Thursday.

Ryan James Wedding, 43, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King,” went from being a 2002 Winter Olympian to one of the most notorious fugitives in the world with a place atop the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Now, there's more than $10 million out for his capture and conviction.

From Olympian To Accused Drug Lord

Born in Thunder Bay, Canada, Wedding competed in the Giant Slalom snowboarding competition in the Salt Lake City Olympics. While he didn't medal at snowboarding, he did rise to the top of a drug empire, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a 2024 indictment.

“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, coupled with a major reward offer by the State Department, will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger.”

Wedding became the 535th person ever added to the FBI’s list of notorious fugitives.

“The former Canadian snowboarder unleashed an avalanche of death and destruction, here and abroad,” said Matthew Allen, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles Field Division. “He earned the name ‘El Jefe’, becoming boss of a violent transnational drug trafficking organization. Now, his face will be on ‘The Top 10 Most Wanted’ posters. He’s unremitting, callous and greed-driven. Today’s announcement beams an even brighter searchlight on him. We ask that you help us find him.”

Massive Reward For Capture

The FBI is offering a $50,000 award for information leading to Wedding's arrest while the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced is offering a $10-million-reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and/or conviction.

The unusual reward was authorized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the Narcotics Rewards Program, which supports law enforcement efforts to disrupt transnational crime globally and bring fugitives to justice.

“The Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ryan James Wedding,” said Senior Bureau Official F. Cartwright Weiland of the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). “We are committed to protecting American communities from thugs who, with clear consciences, deliberately peddle illicit narcotics and prey on our youth.”

Investigators believe that Wedding is residing in Mexico but have not ruled out his presence in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, or elsewhere.

'Transnational Criminal Organization'

In June, Wedding and his alleged second-in-command Andrew Clark, 34, were charged in an indictment with running a continuing criminal enterprise; committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes; and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine, according to the justice department. Clark was arrested last October by Mexican authorities.

“As alleged in the superseding indictment, defendant Ryan Wedding – a former Olympian – led a transnational criminal organization that murdered innocent people and put thousands of kilograms of narcotics on our streets,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “The reward offered today will help bring this defendant to justice in the United States. We urge anyone with information about Wedding to contact law enforcement and help us get Mr. Wedding into custody.”

According to prosecutors, Wedding, Clark and others arranged shipments of cocaine weighing hundreds of pounds from Southern California to Canada between January and August. The drugs came from Mexico and were held in Los Angeles stash houses before couriers took them to Canada in long-haul semi-trucks run by Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, both of Ontario, Canada, according to federal prosecutors.

In the process, people died, authorities said.

Prosecutors contend that Wedding and Clark ordered the November 2023 murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada. The hit was in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California, and another member of that family survived the shooting with serious physical injuries, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors contend Wedding and Clark also ordered the murder of another victim in May over a drug debt. Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, a resident of Canada, are charged with the April 1 murder of another victim in Ontario, Canada.

During the investigation, law enforcement seized more than one ton of cocaine, three firearms, dozens of rounds of ammunition, $255,400 in United States currency, and more than $3.2 million in cryptocurrency.

According to the indictment, in March 2024, the organization delivered a total of approximately 646 pounds of cocaine to representatives of Ratte and Singh for eventual shipment to and distribution in Canada.

The following month, the organization attempted to deliver approximately 827 pounds of cocaine to representatives of Ratte and Singh for eventual transportation to Canada, but investigators interrupted the delivery and seized the cocaine, according to the indictment.

In total, several defendants possessed a total of approximately 1.8 metric tons of cocaine with a street value between $23.4 and $25.2 million dollars in Los Angeles., according to the indictment.

If convicted as charged, Wedding, Clark, and Cunningham would face life in federal prison in connection with the murder and attempted murder charges.

The FBI urges anyone with information as to Wedding’s whereabouts to contact the FBI via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram at 1-424 495-0614.