1 of 7 | An FBI Ten Most Wanted poster is displayed during a press conference with Attorney General Pam Bondi on actions taken against an international criminal organization at the Department of Justice Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The United States on Wednesday intensified its manhunt for a former Canadian Olympian who U.S. law enforcement accuses of being a drug kingpin on the scale of Pablo Escobar and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
It is not immediately clear how long the United States has been hunting Ryan Wedding but he was first indicted in the United States in October 2024. In March, he was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and a State Department reward of $10 million was announced for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Authorities believe the 44-year-old Canadian is residing in Mexico and is being protected by the Sinaloa Cartel.
During a press conference by U.S. federal law enforcement on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced an all-of-government intensification in their hunt for the man.
“He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world,” she said, adding that every year he is allegedly responsible for importing 60 metric tons of cocaine into Los Angeles.
“It’s killing our kids. It’s killing our friends. It’s killing our relatives. And this guy is responsible for a tremendous amount of that horror.”
Wedding was convicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 2009, and was released from prison in December 2011, after which federal prosecutors allege he founded what they call in court documents “the Wedding Criminal Enterprise.”
Bondi on Wednesday alleged that Wedding is running a prolific drug trafficking organization that, in partnership with the Sinaloa Cartel, is flooding U.S. and Canadian communities with drugs. She said he is Canada’s main distributor of cocaine. He has also been accused of involvement in multiple murders, against rivals, witnesses to his crimes and others.
More than 35 people have been indicted in the case. On Wednesday, authorities announced the arrest of 10 people, including seven in Canada and three from Colombia, as part of the FBI’s Operation Giant Slalom, which seeks to dismantle his organization. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed the seven arrests, saying in a statement that the law enforcement action was taken at the request of the United States, pending extradition.
The arrests came under a fresh nine-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday that charges Wedding and many others, including a Latin pop star, with drug trafficking offenses and with the murder of a witness cooperating with law enforcement.
According to the court document, the unidentified victim was murdered in Medellin, Colombia. The victim was shot five times in the head by a motorcyclist while eating at a restaurant in January.
Federal prosecutors state that it was a conspiracy to kill the witness that began after Wedding was first indicted in 2024. The documents state that a Canadian barrister, Deepak Balwant Paradkar, 62, of Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, had allegedly instructed Wedding to have the witness killed to prevent extradition from Mexico to the United States.
Wedding is accused of putting a bounty on the witness’ death. Assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said during the press conference that Wedding allegedly paid a co-defendant to post photos of the witness and his wife to the purported Canadian news website The Dirty News so the target could be identified and hunted.
As part of the full-court press on Wedding, the State Department on Wednesday announced it was increasing the reward for the Canadian’s arrest and conviction from $10 million to $15 million.
The U.S. Treasury also announced sanctions Wednesday against Wedding and nine of his alleged closest associates as well as nine connected entities, blocking them from the U.S. financial system and threatening punitive measures against Americans who does business with them.
The United States took down The Dirty News website on Tuesday. Amid its investigation, it has seized more than 2,000 kilos of cocaine, numerous weapons, $3.2 million worth of cryptocurrency. Assets worth $13 million have also been confiscated, which is the value of a 2002 Mercedes CLK-GTR that the Treasury said the FBI seized from the Wedding cartel.
Bondi said the Treasury was seizing assets of 19 people associated with the Wedding criminal enterprise, the worth of which she estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He’s a modern-day iteration of El Chapo Guzman,” FBI Director Kash Patel said during the press conference.
“He is responsible for engineering a narcotrafficking and narcoterrorism program that we have not seen in a long time. He will not evade justice.”
