Disgraced former Olympic snowboarder and alleged cocaine kingpin Ryan Wedding, who was among the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives, was arrested overnight in Mexico City, federal officials announced Friday.
Ryan Wedding, 44, competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City before authorities say he pivoted from elite sports to running a violent transnational drug trafficking operation.
🚨 @FBIDirectorKash: "Today, we are announcing the capture of another FBI's Most Wanted Top Ten fugitive, Ryan Wedding. That makes SIX Top Ten FBI captures in one year alone… that's two more than the entirety of the prior administration." https://t.co/1owUs8Kr25 pic.twitter.com/UTVT3037Yg
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 23, 2026
“Today, we are announcing the capture of another FBI’s Most Wanted Top Ten fugitive, Ryan Wedding,” FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday during a press conference in Ontario, California. “That makes six Top 10 FBI captures in one year alone — two more than the entirety of the prior administration.”
Federal officials allege Wedding worked closely with Mexican cartels to move massive quantities of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and into Southern California and Canada. He is also accused of orchestrating multiple killings to protect and advance his drug enterprise, including murders tied directly to his trafficking operations.
“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 assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in March, according to a press release.
Wedding was charged in 2024 with trafficking cocaine under several aliases, including “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy,” and “James Conrad Kin.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that, “at my direction, Department of Justice agents have apprehended yet another member of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List,” adding that Wedding was flown to the United States and remains in federal custody.
At my direction, Department of Justice agents @FBI have apprehended yet another member of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List: Ryan Wedding, the onetime Olympian snowboarder-turned alleged violent cocaine kingpin.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 23, 2026
Wedding was flown to the United States where he will face justice.…
Authorities had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and conviction, underscoring the priority placed on his capture by U.S. law enforcement.
WHO IS RYAN WEDDING? OLYMPIC SNOWBOARDER ON FBI’S TEN MOST WANTED LIST
Assistant FBI Director Akil Davis, who is in charge of the Los Angeles division, said authorities have already arrested 36 people tied to Wedding’s organization and seized large quantities of drugs, firearms, luxury vehicles, artwork, jewelry, and tens of millions of dollars in illicit assets.
Wedding is expected to make his initial appearance Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, where prosecutors said the investigation remains ongoing.
