FBI seeks Olympic athlete on murder and drug trafficking charges

The FBI has issued a warrant for the arrest of Ryan James Wedding, a Canadian Olympic athlete who is charged with several counts related to the crimes of murder and membership in a drug trafficking ring. There are 15 other people charged.

"A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder and 15 other defendants have been charged in a 16-count superseding indictment for allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States, and whose leaders orchestrated multiple murders in furtherance of these drug crimes," the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported via a communication.

The court document states that Wedding, who was residing in Mexico, leads this drug trafficking network together with another criminal named Andrew Clark, who has already been arrested: “As alleged in the indictment, an Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians."

The FBI is rewarding $50,000 to any citizen who passes on information on the fugitive's whereabouts.

Wedding competed in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, in the men's parallel giant slalom. He finished 24th.