US$10M reward posted for ex-Olympian turned alleged drug kingpin

Ryan Wedding is seen in a 2024 photo that has been released by the FBI.

The FBI has added a Canadian former Olympian accused of orchestrating a billion-dollar international drug-trafficking organization that allegedly carried out multiple murders in Ontario to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Ryan Wedding is wanted on a number of charges and a reward of US$10 million has now been posted for information leading to his arrest.

Law enforcement officials released a new photo of Wedding at a news conference on Thursday and said they believe the former Olympic snowboarder is still living in Mexico under the protection of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel. They would not say who took the photo but said it was taken some time in 2024.

Wedding was first named in October alongside 15 other suspects – nine of whom are also Canadian – in connection with the drug-trafficking operation, which allegedly transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, and into Canada.

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While most of those suspects are currently in custody, Wedding, who investigators say is their lead defendant, remains at-large.

Police previously announced a US$50,000 reward for tips leading to his arrest. On Thursday, the Chief of Detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department, Alan Hamilton, said he hopes the US$10 million figure will “incentivize” those with information about Wedding’s whereabouts to come forward.

“The increase in the reward should make it clear there is nowhere safe for Wedding to hide,” he said. “We will find you, disrupt your networks and bring you to justice.”

Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” (or “The Boss” in Spanish) and his alleged “second in command,” Canadian Andrew Clark, are accused of directing a combined four murders in Ontario in furtherance of their alleged drug empire.

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Their victims include Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55, an Indian couple who were shot and killed in Caledon in a case of mistaken identity in November 2023, according to police. Their daughter, Kaur Sidhu, 28, survived.

The pair also allegedly directed the murder of Mohammed Zafar in Brampton over a drug debt in May 2024.

Clark, who is charged in the April 2024 Niagara Falls slaying of 29-year-old Randy Fader alongside co-accused Malik Damion Cunningham, was extradited from Mexico to the United States last month after he was “inexplicably” released from police custody south of the U.S. border, according to Joseph T. McNally, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

Earlier this year, U.S. prosecutors alleged that Wedding still had access to a “network of hitmen” as they sought additional protections to keep the identities of confidential informants and co-operating witnesses in the case hidden.

The RCMP, which has been assisting the FBI in its investigation, said Wedding poses one of the “largest organized crime threats to Canada.”

“We will continue to work with our US and Mexico counterparts in the search for Wedding. Never has it been more important than now to ensure our continued collaboration with our international partners to tackle the threats we face and prevent transnational crime from hurting everyday Canadians and our allies,” Liam Price, director general of the RCMP’s International Special Services division, said in a news release.

At Thursday’s news conference, U.S. law enforcement maintained that Wedding remains a “very dangerous man” and that by running what they described as one of the “most sophisticated drug trafficking networks in North America,” he has become wealthy while maintaining connections with people “in very high places.”

Wedding has been on the run from police on both sides of the border since at least 2015, which, according to senior bureau official with the U.S. State Department, Cart Weiland, justifies the multi-million dollar reward now being offered by U.S., Canadian, and Mexican governments.

“Wedding, believe it or not, is a former snowboarder who competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, but afterwards, he went downhill in a different way,” Weiland said Thursday. “Wedding traded snow for another kind of powder, giving up world-class athletic pursuits for cocaine trafficking and involvement in murder.”

Wedding faces a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison for his part in the alleged criminal enterprise.

Officials noted that his appearance may have changed since being identified by police, which they said is “normal” in fugitive investigations.