Olympian on FBI's Most-Wanted List 'Accused of Ordering Murder of Witness'
The US Justice Department have raised the reward for information leading to the arrest of a former Olympian-turned-alleged-drug-cartel member.
The reward for information about the former Olympic snowboarder, who is allegedly running a drug cartel, has been raised from $10m (£7.6m) to $15m (£11.5m).
Ryan Wedding competed for Canada at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 but has since allegedly led a life of crime.
US officials believe the 44-year-old is living in Mexico while under protection from the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel.
Advert
Wedding, who is one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted suspects, has been compared to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
It is alleged by US Attorney General Pam Bondi that Wedding was involved in the murder of a federal witness in a case against him.
He allegedly placed a $7,000 (£5,400) reward to have a photograph of the witness and his partner posted to a Canada-based website in October 2024 as he tried to find out his whereabouts.
Since then, the website has been taken down by the FBI, with the founder of Dirty Newz, Gursewak Singh Bal, arrested.
The witness mentioned was later shot dead at a restaurant in Colombia in January of this year.
Wedding has also been charged with witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking.
The FBI are still searching for many other suspects, including the killer.
Among those allegedly involved was Canadian lawyer Deepak Balwant Paradkar, who is accused of providing "a range of illegal services to Wedding and his drug trafficking organisation beyond the scope of a normal attorney-client relationship", according to the US Treasury Department.
It is alleged that Paradkar was given “luxury watches and additional fees for these illegal services”.
According to the indictment, the lawyer also allegedly advised Wedding and an accomplice to murder the federal witness.
On Wednesday (November 19), US and Canadian law enforcement officials announced that there had been significant developments related to the ongoing case, with 10 arrests made.
The organisation, according to officials, operated across North America as well as other countries and was said to be the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, bringing in an estimated $1 billion per year.
Wedding took part in the Giant Slalom at the 2002 Olympics. It is alleged that the Olympian first became involved with organised criminal activity in 2011, after he was released from prison having served a sentence for cocaine distribution.
The FBI also alleges that he has ordered several murders across the globe in places such as Canada, Latin America and the US.
Topics: Olympics
Luke Davies