FBI Adds Former Olympian to Most Wanted List, Offers $10 Million Reward

The FBI has just added a surprising name to its top 10 most wanted fugitives list: Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian and Canadian national. The U.S. State Department is offering a jaw-dropping reward of up to $10 million for information that leads to his capture.

Wedding, 43, competed in the snowboarding event for Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Now, he’s accused of running a transnational drug trafficking network that allegedly shipped "hundreds of kilograms of cocaine" from Colombia through Mexico and into Southern California, Canada, and other U.S. locations. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, he’s also linked to orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder, according to FBI Los Angeles chief Akil Davis.

In a statement that sounds like a Netflix crime series tagline, Davis said, "Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada." The alleged murders of his competitors make him even more dangerous, Davis added, emphasizing the importance of public cooperation in tracking him down.

Adding to the drama, Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the massive $10 million reward for Wedding’s capture, while the FBI is throwing in an additional $50,000 for good measure. You know it’s serious when those kinds of numbers get tossed around.

Wedding, who is 6'3" and weighs about 240 pounds, reportedly goes by a slew of aliases, including "El Jefe," "Giant," "Public Enemy," "James Conrad King," and "Jesse King." Federal authorities issued an arrest warrant for him in September 2024, but so far, he’s managed to give them the slip.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of the Justice Department's capture of one of Wedding's alleged accomplices, Andrew Clark. Clark, a Canadian citizen living in Mexico, was arrested by Mexican authorities in October 2024 and is set to be arraigned in Arizona next week. According to the indictment, Wedding and his associates used long-haul semi-trucks to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Los Angeles to Canada.

Wedding faces a laundry list of charges, including conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances, conspiracy to export cocaine, murder in connection with a drug operation, and even attempted murder. His criminal resume is as extensive as it is horrifying.

Once a celebrated athlete, Wedding’s descent from Olympic glory to alleged drug lord is a cautionary tale of how far someone can fall. For now, the manhunt continues, and with this kind of reward on the table, it’s only a matter of time before someone spots him.