U.S. authorities have arrested former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, ending a years-long international manhunt for a figure investigators describe as a major cocaine trafficker who relied on cryptocurrency to get around and hide illicit profits.
Key points to remember:
- Former Olympian Ryan Wedding has been arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States after years on the FBI’s most wanted list.
- Authorities say he ran a cartel-linked cocaine ring and used crypto to launder profits.
- U.S. officials say the operation generated more than $1 billion a year and spread to several countries.
Wedding, 44, was arrested Thursday evening in Mexico and transferred to the United States on Friday, according to U.S. officials.
The former athlete, who competed for Team Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, with a reward of up to $15 million offered for information leading to his capture.
Former Olympic snowboarder faces US charges in global drug case
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wedding, who she described as a “former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged violent cocaine kingpin,” will face federal charges in the United States related to drug trafficking, murder and operating a criminal enterprise in multiple countries.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrest in an article on X, crediting cooperation with Mexican authorities in locating Wedding after more than a decade on the run.
Investigators say Wedding played an important role in cocaine distribution networks linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, overseeing shipments from Colombia to the United States and Canada.
According to U.S. officials, the operation generated more than $1 billion in illegal revenue annually at its peak.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Wedding in November, accusing his organization of using cryptocurrency to move and launder drug profits.
In its notice, the Treasury said digital assets were used to mask the flow of funds and hide large sums of money from narcotics trafficking.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Wedding voluntarily surrendered to the U.S. embassy before being handed over to the FBI.
Patel later told reporters that Wedding had been hiding in Mexico for more than 10 years and was suspected of being under cartel protection.
Wedding arrived Friday at Ontario International Airport in southern California, where federal officials held a news conference following his transfer.
Authorities said they seized guns, luxury vehicles, artwork and other property linked to the alleged criminal enterprise, and indicated that more arrests could follow as the investigation continues.
Ryan Wedding’s previous cocaine case predates latest US charges
This is not Wedding’s first encounter with U.S. law enforcement. In 2008, he was arrested in California in connection with a cocaine trafficking case involving a Vancouver-based operation.
He was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to four years in prison, before being released around 2011.
The arrest comes as crypto-related crime remains a growing concern. According to Chainalysis, illicit cryptocurrency addresses received a record $154 billion in 2025, a sharp increase from the previous year.
In a separate case, U.S. prosecutors charged Ronald Spektor, a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident, with stealing approximately $16 million in cryptocurrency from about 100 Coinbase users through an alleged phishing and social engineering scheme.
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