Olympic Snowboarder Ordered Murders, Led International Drug Ring: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — An Olympic snowboarder built an international criminal empire, commissioning murders and shipping more than a 1,000 pounds of cocaine through the Southland, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. A manhunt is on for Olympian Ryan James Wedding, 43, and the FBI is offering $50,000 for information leading to his arrest.

After competing in the Salt Lake City Olympics, Wedding carved a new career path as a murderous drug kingpin, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday while unveiling an indictment naming 16 people. Wedding, a Canadian living in Mexico, is the lead defendent in the sprawling indictment.

According to prosecutors, his partner Andrew Clark, 34, was arrested last week in Mexico.

Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” is charged with eight felonies: two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to export cocaine, one count of leading a continuing criminal enterprise, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime, and one count of attempt to commit murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime.

Clark, whose aliases include “The Dictator,” is charged with the same eight felonies, plus an additional count of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime.

“The Wedding Drug Trafficking Organization and its unremitting, callous and greed-driven crimes has been operating for far too long, spanning several countries, from Colombia through Mexico, the U.S. and to Canada,” added Matthew Allen, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles. “They have triggered an avalanche of violent crimes, including brutal murders. Wedding, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a life of incessant crimes."

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 allege.

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.

"An Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.

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.