The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that it is charging former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding with two new counts of murder, witness tampering, money laundering, drug trafficking, and intimidation following the murder of a federal witness who was preparing to testify against the former Olympian.
During a Wednesday press conference, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Wedding of being the leader of a “transnational criminal enterprise.” Bondi explained that Wedding currently “controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world.”
“He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada,” Bondi said. “Wedding collaborates closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, a foreign terrorist organization, to flood not only American but also Canadian communities with cocaine coming from Colombia.”
Bondi claimed that Wedding’s criminal organization is responsible for “importing approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine a year into Los Angeles via semi trucks from Mexico,” which she said is the weight of 40 standard cars.
According to Bondi, Wedding has been accused of “murdering a federal witness” after sharing pictures of a witness and his wife on a Canadian website in order to have the witness located. The attorney general explained that the witness was later “gunned down in a restaurant in Medellin before he could testify against Wedding.”
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In addition to announcing the new charges against Wedding, Bondi announced that the State Department has increased the reward for Wedding’s arrest from $10 million to $15 million and confirmed that he is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Bondi warned that President Donald Trump’s administration is “coming for” all drug dealers.
“Whether you are a street-level drug dealer, a common street-level drug dealer, or an international drug kingpin, we are coming for you,” Bondi stated. “We will find you, and you will accountable and held to justice for your crimes.”
In a Wednesday press release, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against Wedding and nine entities and individuals close to him. The department described Wedding as an “extremely violent criminal” who “remains a fugitive from justice, currently hiding in Mexico, where he continues to direct drug trafficking, murder, and other serious criminal activities.”
“Today we’re exposing the network of associates and enablers behind Ryan Wedding — one of the most notorious criminals and narcotraffickers still evading justice,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said. “Treasury is joining with the FBI and the Department of Justice to cut Wedding and his criminal partners off from the U.S. financial system and help dismantle the network they rely on.”
