Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, one of the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives who is suspected of cocaine trafficking, has been taken into custody, two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation tell NBC News.
Wedding, 44, is charged with overseeing operations of a criminal enterprise, including witness intimidation tactics. In March, Wedding was placed on the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives list.
A $15 million reward was offered for information in the case. Details about what led to the arrest were not immediately available.
An announcement by authorities is planned for 8 a.m. Friday in Ontario, California.
Wedding’s fall from Olympic glory unfolded over the course of two decades when he became a key figure in a violent and lucrative illicit drug operation, according to authorities. Wedding is suspected of orchestrating killings tied to the billion-dollar cocaine cartel, including the murder of a federal witness.
Born in Thunder Bay, Canada on Lake Superior’s north shore, Wedding represented Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. He was 24th in the parallel giant slalom, marking the height of his snowboarding career.
The crimes began in 2008, six years after Wedding’s Olympic debut when he was a promising snowboarder in his 20s, according to court documents.
“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,” Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a March news release.
Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy,” and “James Conrad King,” was charged in 2024. Authorities estimated that the drug ring moved some 60 tons of cocaine a year using semi-trailer trucks to bring the drugs between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California and Canada.
The Canadian national was believed to be hiding in Mexico.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
