The FBI has released a new photo of a Canadian Olympian-turned-alleged cocaine kingpin who the organization’s director says is a “modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar.”
Ryan Wedding, 44, is facing several murder and drug charges stemming from his reported drug empire that stretches across the Americas.
The FBI has said Wedding, who is reportedly living in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, may be changing his appearance and hair colour to avoid capture.
The photo released by the FBI in Los Angeles Monday shows a shirtless Wedding lying on what appears to be a bed. Wedding is pictured with a short beard and short hair, along with a tattoo of a lion head on his left chest. The FBI said the photo is believed to have been taken this past summer in Mexico.
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Two 2024 photos of Wedding released by the FBI show the six-foot-three Thunder Bay, Ont., native in public sporting a moustache and what appears to be a full-sleeve tattoo on his left arm; the other photo shows a bearded Wedding sitting at a table on his phone.
A previous, undated FBI handout photo of Wedding depicts him with long, curly hair and a beard.
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Wedding, a snowboarder who was living in Coquitlam, B.C., when he suited up for his country at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list earlier this year.
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A US$15-million bounty has been issued by the U.S. State Department for information that leads to his arrest or conviction.
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“He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations in this world,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Nov. 19, adding that Wedding’s alleged empire traffics 60 metric tons of cocaine per year for US$1 billion in illegal proceeds.
“He is the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.”
Last month, Wedding was accused of ordering the murder of a federal witness before he could testify against him and Andrew Clark, his reported second-in-command. That witness was eventually shot dead at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, on Jan. 31.
Seven other Canadians reportedly connected to that slaying were arrested and charged in November. Among them was Wedding’s lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, who American officials allege advised him to have the witness killed.
Paradkar, whose licence to practice law in Ontario was suspended last week, has denied the allegations against him and maintains his innocence.
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FBI alleges Toronto lawyer linked to billion dollar cocaine network
Wedding and another Canadian citizen, who was arrested by Mexican authorities last fall, are accused of directing the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Caledon, Ont., in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. Ontario Provincial Police have said the family was “completely innocent” and mistakenly targeted.
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Wedding faces separate “unresolved” drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, the RCMP said last October.
He was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show. U.S. authorities believe that after Wedding’s release, he resumed drug trafficking and has been protected by the Sinaloa Cartel.
To date, 36 people reportedly tied to Wedding’s operation have been arrested and charged, and several remain wanted.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
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