Ryan Wedding — the ex-Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin — will make his first appearance in an Orange County court after he was arrested in Mexico and flown to California this week.
Wedding, 44, is facing multiple federal charges, including running a criminal enterprise, murder and conspiring to distribute cocaine. The FBI believes the Canadian is responsible for shipping about 60 metric tons of cocaine into Southern California.
The former Olympian is expected to appear at a federal courthouse in Santa Ana on Monday, authorities said.
Wedding is facing multiple federal charges, including running a criminal enterprise, murder and conspiring to distribute cocaine, among other crimes. APWedding was arrested last week and brought to Southern California on Friday, where he was paraded in handcuffs. The FBI, LAPD, DEA, and Canada’s RCMP held a joint press conference announcing that the accused drug trafficker — one of America’s Most Wanted fugitives — was now in custody.
“When you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front, and that’s what you’re seeing here,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Wedding has long has ties to Southern California, with authorities saying alleged drug trafficking operation used Los Angeles as its main U.S. hub.
The organization then funneled hundreds of kilos of cocaine to Canada and other locations across the U.S., federal officials said.
Wedding grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, where he finished 24th in the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event.
He was arrested first arrested in California in 2008 and found guilty of conspiring to traffic cocaine and jailed for four years in a federal prison. In 2011, a year into his four-year prison sentence, Wedding got married Iranian-born businesswoman Miryan Andrea Castillo Moreno from British Columbia.
A Canadian citizen, Wedding grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics. PA Images via Getty ImagesCanadian investigators and the US Department of Justice had been tracking Wedding since 2015.
In June 2024, a sealed six-count indictment was filed against Wedding and an associate in Los Angeles federal court, charging them with running a criminal enterprise, committing murder in support of the enterprise and conspiring to distribute and export cocaine.
On Jan. 22, Wedding was taken into custody after he turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
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