Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder wanted for murder, drug trafficking

Ryan James Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, is accused of being the kingpin of a transnational crime group

Published Oct 17, 2024  •  Last updated 6 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

The Department of Justice and other U.S. law enforcement officials are seeking former Olympic Canadian snowboarder Ryan James Wedding for drug trafficking and murder. Photo by Handout /FBI

From a Canadian Olympic snowboarder to a drug kingpin.

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That’s what the U.S. Department of Justice alleges Ryan James Wedding, who competed as a snowboarder for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, has become.

DOJ officials in the United States said Thursday in a press release that Wedding, 43 – originally from Coquitlam, B.C. – is wanted while another Canadian suspect, Andrew Clark, 34, is in custody for allegedly directing the murders of two family members in Caledon, Ont., on Nov. 20, 2023, “in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California.”

And that’s just for starters.

OPP police tape at the scene on Mayfield Rd. in Caledon on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, the day after a shooting that killed two people and wounded another. Photo by Jack Boland /Toronto Sun

Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” according to the DOJ, is the lead defendant in a superseding indictment just unsealed.

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“As alleged in the indictment, 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,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada claimed in a statement.

The Canadians, who reside in Mexico, are two of 16 defendants identified in the superseding indictment, which alleges they “routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, into Canada and the U.S.”

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Clark was arrested by Mexican law enforcement on Oct. 8.

But Wedding, who was reportedly first arrested for drug trafficking back in 2010 resulting in a four-year prison term, is still outstanding.

Both Canadians were previously charged in the original indictment with running a continuing criminal enterprise, murder, and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.

The superseding indictment alleges “that Wedding, Clark, and others conspired to ship bulk quantities of cocaine – weighing hundreds of kilograms – from Southern California to Canada through a Canada-based drug transportation network run by Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, both of Ontario, from approximately January 2024 to August 2024.”

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With regards to the 2023 double homicide in Caledon, the indictment states “another member of that family survived the shooting but was left with serious physical injuries.”

The indictment says Wedding and Clark allegedly also ordered the murder of another victim on May 18, 2024, over a drug debt and that Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, a resident of Canada, are charged with the April 1, 2024, murder of another victim in Ontario.

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Both Wedding and Clark, the latter whose aliases include “The Dictator,” are charged with the same eight felonies, although Clark faces an additional count of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime.

“The organization, led by former Olympian Ryan Wedding, cultivated a violent transnational drug trafficking empire that extended from Canada to the United States, Mexico, and Colombia,” Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, alleged in a statement.

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“While key members of Wedding’s criminal enterprise were successfully apprehended this week, he remains at large. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for any information leading to his arrest.”

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

“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,” Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

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“They have triggered an avalanche of violent crimes, including brutal murders,” he alleged. “Wedding, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a life of incessant crimes.”

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The RCMP, who worked with the FBI on the operation dubbed Giant Slalom for over a year, released a statement Thursday explaining U.S. authorities have so far indicted 16 people – 10 of whom are Canadians – for a range of serious charges including drug trafficking, murder, conspiracy to murder and continuing a criminal enterprise.

In addition to Wedding, who is still sought, Canadian residents Clark, Ratte, Singh, Cunningham and Rakhim Ibragimov were arrested in Ontario this week, the RCMP said.

Three Canadians – Nahim Jorge Bonilla, Ranjit Singh Rowal and Iqbal Singh Virk – were arrested in the U.S.

And another Canadian, Gennadii Bilonog, remains at large.

“Through collaborative efforts with the FBI, we have disrupted a major organized crime group,” RCMP Chief Supt. Mathieu Bertrand said in the statement. “The actions taken during this operation will have positive impacts on the safety and security of our communities and citizens.”

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