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Former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who is alleged to have run a translation drug ring and orchestrated multiple murders, was seen on video being escorted by law enforcement after being captured by the FBI on Friday.
Wedding was escorted in handcuffs off of a plane as he landed in Southern California at Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County surrounded by FBI agents. He will face federal charges.
Wedding, 44, surrendered to authorities following a period of negotiations, sources confirmed to Fox News. While the specific terms of that agreement were not known, sources indicated that the one-time Olympian turned himself in after facing mounting pressure that left him unable to continue fleeing from U.S. authorities.
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The FBI has described Wedding as an “extremely violent criminal believed to be responsible for the murder of numerous people abroad.”
Wedding was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list in March 2025 and is accused of running a transnational drug trafficking network that “routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States,” according to the FBI.
He is also accused of orchestrating multiple murders and attempted murder as a part of his drug trafficking operation.
Wedding and 14 other alleged associates were specifically accused of orchestrating the January 2025 murder of a witness who was shot and killed at a restaurant in Colombia. He allegedly placed a bounty on the victim’s head, thinking the victim’s death would lead to the dismissal of charges against him and the drug-trafficking ring he allegedly heads, according to an indictment unsealed in November.
After missing out on the 1998 Winter Olympics, Wedding qualified for his first and only Olympic Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
WHO IS RYAN WEDDING? OLYMPIAN TURNED ALLEGED MURDEROUS DRUG KINGPIN
Ryan Wedding, wanted by the FBI, was seen taking a practice run for the men’s parallel giant slalom of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Park City, Feb. 13, 2002. (FBI | REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell)
In his only event, the men’s parallel giant slalom, Wedding finished in 24th place. Switzerland’s Philipp Schoch won gold, Sweden’s Richard Rikardsson won silver and Chris Klug of the U.S. took bronze.
After the Olympics, Wedding enrolled at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
Wedding was first linked to criminal activity in 2006. He and another competitive snowboarder were named in a search warrant for a house in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, that was investigated for growing large quantities of marijuana, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Police seized 6,800 marijuana plants from that house, but no one was charged.
Wedding was arrested for the first time in 2009 in the U.S. after traveling with two friends from Vancouver to California to allegedly buy 24 kilograms of Colombian cocaine.
When Wedding was tried, he claimed he was volunteering for several cancer agencies, was doing real estate investing and was training for the 2010 Olympics. But the Canadian Snowboard Federation said he had not competed in years, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Wedding served a four-year jail sentence after agreeing to forfeit more than $121,000 seized during an airport sting and agreeing to drop an appeal of his conviction.
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Ryan Wedding of Canada takes a practice run for the men’s parallel giant slalom of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Park City on Feb. 13, 2002. (REUTERS/Jeff J Mitchell)
In 2015, he was charged with new drug offenses in Nova Scotia. That time, police never caught him. He was then on the run until Friday.
Wedding is estimated to have transported over $1 billion in cocaine.
Fox News Digital’s Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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