Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, was charged Thursday with running a cocaine trafficking ring across the Americas and killing several people, officials said.
Wedding is a Canadian national and is considered a fugitive, the FBI said.
The agency offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and extradition of the 43-year-old former athlete. Prosecutors said he’s charged in the U.S. with running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes.
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"He chose to become a major drug trafficker, and he chose to become a killer," Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, told reporters.
Wedding’s group is accused of moving large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to Canada and other locations in the U.S. using long-haul semi-trucks. He’s one of 16 people charged in the alleged ring accused of moving 60 tons of cocaine each year.
Estrada said four of them remain fugitives.
"The Wedding Drug Trafficking Organization and its unremitting, callous and greed-driven crimes has been operating for far too long, spanning several countries, from Colombia through Mexico, the U.S. and to Canada," DEA Special Agent in Charge Matthew Allen said, via TMZ Sports.
"They have triggered an avalanche of violent crimes, including brutal murders. Wedding, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a life of incessant crimes."
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Two members of a family in Canada were killed in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment in what officials said was a case of mistaken identity, U.S. authorities alleged. Cocaine, weapons, ammunition, cash and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency was seized during the investigation, authorities said.
Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City for Canada, faces other charges in Canada in relation to alleged drug trafficking that dates back to 2015, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said.
Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and he was sentenced to prison in 2010, according to federal records.
Estrada said U.S. authorities believe that after Wedding’s release, he resumed drug trafficking. He added that officials believe he’s being protected by the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
He’s alleged to have aliases such as "El Jefe" and "Public Enemy," prosecutors said, via the Los Angeles Times.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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