Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding has pleaded not guilty in a U.S. federal court to sweeping drug trafficking and murder conspiracy charges tied to what authorities allege was a billion-dollar international narcotics operation.
Wedding, 44, appeared Monday in federal court in Santa Ana, California, following his transfer from Mexico, where he had been living in hiding for more than a decade. According to U.S. authorities, Wedding surrendered at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City last week and was flown to Southern California to face trial after a coordinated, year-long international effort involving law enforcement agencies from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
Prosecutors allege Wedding led a massive drug trafficking organization that moved as much as 60 tonnes of cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Canada and Southern California, operating with protection from the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal syndicates.
Wedding, who competed for Canada in a single snowboarding event at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list last March. Authorities offered a US$15-million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
He was indicted in 2024 on charges including running a criminal enterprise, conspiring to distribute cocaine, and murder. Prosecutors allege Wedding ordered the 2023 killings of two members of a Canadian family in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, as well as a separate killing in 2024 linked to an unpaid drug debt. Additional charges allege he orchestrated the murder of a witness in Colombia to prevent extradition to the United States.
Court records indicate Wedding has not yet listed a lawyer. He made an initial appearance but did not address the court beyond entering his not-guilty plea.
Wedding has a prior criminal history in the United States. He was convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to prison, before being released from U.S. custody in 2011.
In Canada, Wedding faces separate drug-related charges dating back to 2015.
According to the indictment, prosecutors allege Wedding’s organization became the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, sourcing drugs from Colombia, coordinating transport through Mexico, and moving shipments into the U.S. by boat, plane and semitruck. The cocaine was allegedly stored in Southern California before being distributed across Canada and multiple U.S. states.
