By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
WASHINGTON â A former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who is wanted by authorities for running a multi-national drug trafficking network is facing additional charges in connection with the killing of a federal witness, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Wednesday.
Ten other defendants have been arrested on charges in the federal indictment unsealed in California that accuses Ryan Wedding of orchestrating the January killing of the witness in Colombia to help Wedding avoid extradition to the U.S.
Authorities are now offering up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of Wedding, whoâs on the FBIâs 10 Most Wanted list. Heâs believed to be living in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, whom authorities say heâs working with closely to funnel massive quantities of drugs into Canada and the U.S.
âWhether you are a street-level drug dealer ⌠or an international drug kingpin, we are coming for you,â Bondi told reporters. âWe will find you and you will be accountable and held to justice for your crimes.â
Wedding â whose aliases include âEl Jefe,â âPublic Enemy,â and âJames Conrad Kingâ â was charged in 2024 with running a drug ring that moves some 60 tons of cocaine a year using long-haul semi trucks to bring the drugs between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California and Canada.
Authorities say Wedding and his co-conspirators used a Canadian website called âthe Dirty Newsâ to post a photograph of the witness so he could be identified and killed. The witness was then followed to a restaurant in MedellĂn in January and shot in the head.
âWedding placed the bounty on the victimâs head, and the erroneous belief that the victimâs death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him and his international drug trafficking ring, and would further ensure that he was not extradited to the United States. He was wrong.â said Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles.
The U.S. government is also offering rewards of up to $2 million for others involved in the killing of the witness.