Ryan Wedding's evolution from Olympian to alleged drug kingpin
Key dates in former professional snowboarder's transformation into what FBI calls a modern-day Pablo Escobar
Canadian Olympian turned alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding, who the FBI has compared to Pablo Escobar, has been arrested following a decades-long transnational manhunt.
The case started heating up publicly after U.S. officials arrested nearly a dozen of Wedding's associates in November and announced a hefty hike in the reward offered for his capture.
The reward was set at $15 million US in November, up from $10 million, for the 44-year-old Canadian whose name has been on the FBI’s most-wanted list since March.
Wedding — whose nicknames include El Jefe (The Boss), Giant, Public Enemy and Buddy — has been accused of cocaine trafficking and murder. U.S. officials have alleged that he operates one of the world’s most prolific drug-trafficking organizations and is Canada’s dominant source of cocaine.
For years, Wedding evaded arrest — likely living under the protection of the infamously dangerous Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, according to U.S. law enforcement.
"When you have a $10-million reward on you and no one is coming forward, it just tells you where he is in the hierarchy of Mexican cartels," RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme previously told CBC News.
So, how did a budding star athlete from Thunder Bay, Ont., go from gliding through white powder to trafficking it, ultimately becoming one of North America’s more notorious alleged drug lords?
Let’s start at the beginning.
Sept. 14, 1981: Wedding born in Thunder Bay
Wedding was born in 1981 in Thunder Bay to a family that was deeply entrenched in snow sports. His grandparents operated a ski hill, and he’s related to multiple competitive skiers, according to several reports.
When Wedding was still a kid, the family moved to British Columbia, where he started his snowboarding career at the age of 12. He was quickly recognized for his talent and ultimately began competing. His early success earned him a coveted spot representing Canada in the Winter Olympics in 2002.
February 2002: Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah
At 20 years old, Wedding was stirring up a lot of fanfare; he’d fared well in competitions as a teenager, medalling in several.
In 2002, Wedding hit the world’s biggest athletic stage, competing in the parallel giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Utah. But the experience was a letdown. The young athlete didn’t medal, placing 24th. Shortly after, Wedding quit competitive snowboarding and moved to Vancouver, where he studied at Simon Fraser University for two years before dropping out, according to a deep dive about him in Toronto Life.
Wedding got into bodybuilding while living in Vancouver and worked as a nightclub bouncer. He also tried his hand at real estate, which seemingly helped him finance his next career jump: a cannabis operation.
Wedding allegedly started mass-producing cannabis at a rural property in Maple Ridge, B.C., known as Eighteen Carrot Farms.
September 2006: RCMP raid property tied to Wedding
The RCMP raided Eighteen Carrot Farms on Sept. 22, 2006, after receiving a tip, and found about $10-million worth of dried cannabis and potted plants. Wedding wasn’t on site, however, and the RCMP didn’t have enough evidence linking him to the property to press charges.
June 13, 2008: Wedding arrested in the U.S.
While in San Diego, Calif., in 2008, Wedding was arrested during a sting operation: the former professional snowboarder had attempted to buy 24 kilograms of cocaine — which he was planning to smuggle into Canada — from an undercover police informant.
November 2009: Wedding faces trial
Following his arrest in the U.S., Wedding’s case went to trial and he was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 48 months in U.S. federal prison, with time served.
According to reports, Wedding had voiced remorse, claiming his actions were “out of character.”
“In the past 24 months I’ve spent in custody, I’ve had an opportunity to see firsthand what drugs do to people, and honestly, I’m ashamed that I became a part of the problem for years,” Wedding told the judge, who issued a relatively light sentence.
Apr. 21, 2015: Another police sting
Wedding was living in Montreal following his release from U.S. prison on Dec. 7, 2011. But it wasn’t until the spring of 2015 that he became one of the targets of yet another police sting — Operation Harrington. Wedding allegedly worked with the Sinaloa cartel to import about $750-million worth of cocaine from Mexico and Colombia into Canada.
By the time the RCMP descended on Wedding’s enterprise, however, he was gone. Law enforcement arrested several people and seized more than 200 kilograms of cocaine, but Wedding, considered to be the “man in charge,” had escaped. He’s been on the run ever since.
2015 to 2024: A busy decade
According to court documents, Wedding and his associates — the “Wedding Criminal Enterprise” — spent the next decade procuring and trafficking cocaine from Colombia into Mexico, the United States and Canada, while promoting a “culture of fear through acts of violence and threats to commit acts of violence.” Authorities believe Wedding was living in Mexico during this time, with his network trafficking a whopping $1-billion US worth of narcotics every year.
In addition to drug trafficking, his network is accused of laundering staggering profits and threatening and/or committing murder of anyone “perceived to be a threat to the enterprise’s operations,” a court document says. For example, Wedding and his presumed second-in-command, Canadian Andrew Clark, were allegedly responsible for the mistaken killing of an Ontario family in November 2023 in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, court documents say.
In a separate case, the pair allegedly ordered the murder of another person in May 2024 over a drug debt.
Early 2024: A breakthrough for law enforcement
One of Wedding’s former associates, Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, became a government informant, creating a domino effect of developments. Several raids in the U.S. and Canada resulted in arrests of accomplices and millions of dollars' worth of drugs seized.
June 2024: New charges
Wedding, along with Clark, was charged in the U.S. with “running a continuing criminal enterprise; committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes; and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine.”
Oct. 17, 2024: U.S. Department of Justice charges 16 defendants
Wedding, Clark and 14 additional co-defendants were named in a 16-count superseding indictment for allegedly running and participating in a drug trafficking operation that moved hundreds of kilograms of cocaine across multiple countries. The bombshell U.S. Department of Justice announcement referenced multiple alleged murders orchestrated by Wedding and his associates to further their drug crimes. It was part of the ongoing FBI and RCMP Operation Giant Slalom, a fittingly named investigation into Wedding's network.
Amid all of this attention from investigators, Wedding reportedly demanded Acebedo-Garcia be hunted down, offering sizable rewards. A Montreal hit man, Atna Onha, confirmed the informant was indeed Acebedo-Garcia. Later, Deepak Paradkar, a lawyer seemingly linked to Wedding whose previous social media handle was “cocaine_lawyer,” allegedly told Wedding that if the informant was killed, the case against Wedding’s organization would crumble.
A Canadian blogger was also allegedly involved in the hunt for Acebedo-Garcia.
Jan. 31, 2025: Acebedo-Garcia slain
Acebedo-Garcia was eating at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, when a man snuck up behind him and shot him in the head multiple times.
March 6, 2025: Wedding lands on FBI’s most wanted list
Following the alleged murder of Acebedo-Garcia, law enforcement raised the stakes in the Wedding case. Earlier this year, Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, announced that Wedding was added to the FBI’s top 10 most-wanted fugitive list. Davis also announced a $10-million US reward for information leading to Wedding’s capture — up from $50,000.
Nov. 19, 2025: Several involved in Acebedo-Garcia killing arrested
In yet another major development, U.S. officials announced earlier this month that 10 defendants were arrested — 11 total in custody — in relation to the Jan. 31 murder of Acebedo-Garcia. Paradkar and Ohna are included.
Meanwhile, the reward for information leading to Wedding's capture was increased to $15 million US.
Nov. 26, 2025: rare Mercedes seized
Towards the end of last year, the FBI seized a super rare Mercedes Benz worth $13 million that was linked to Wedding. The 2002 Mercedes CLK GTR was one of only six ever made.
Jan. 23, 2026: Wedding arrested, transported to U.S.
On Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that Wedding is officially in custody, ending the decades-long manhunt for the former Olympian.
At a press conference on Friday in Ontario, Calif., Patel offered few details about the arrest, citing "operational sensitivities." For example, it's unclear whether anyone received the $15-million US reward in return for information about Wedding's whereabouts.
Still, Patel did say that Wedding was arrested in Mexico City on Thursday and was transported to the U.S.
Wedding is expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday, where we will be required to enter a plea.
The RCMP collaborated with the FBI on the case, along with other law enforcement agencies.
"We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the FBI on their leadership of this investigation and thank them for their collaboration," read a statement from RCMP Comm. Michael Duheme.
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