What Happened to Ryan Wedding? In Custody Awaiting Trial in 2026

In 2002, Ryan Wedding was a young Canadian carving down a mountain in Salt Lake City, one of the snowboarders who represented his country at the Winter Olympics. Two decades later, his name appeared in a very different place: the FBI’s list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, alongside a reward that eventually reached $15 million. According to U.S. prosecutors, the former Olympian became the alleged head of a transnational cocaine-trafficking enterprise who ordered murders to protect it. He was captured in Mexico City in January 2026 and has pleaded not guilty. Here is what is known, and what remains alleged, about where Ryan Wedding is in 2026.

01Profile

Full name

Ryan James Wedding

Born

September 14, 1981 (44 years old)

Birthplace

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

Occupation

Former competitive snowboarder; defendant in a U.S. federal criminal case

Olympics

2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City (snowboarding, parallel giant slalom)

Best known for

Racing for Canada at the 2002 Games; later placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list

Current status

In U.S. federal custody; has pleaded not guilty to all charges

A note before going further: the allegations described in this article are extremely serious, and Wedding has pleaded not guilty to every charge. He has not been convicted of anything. Everything attributed to “prosecutors,” “the indictment,” or “the FBI” below reflects the government’s accusations, which Wedding’s defense disputes.

02The Olympic Years

A junior standout from Thunder Bay

Long before any of the headlines that would later define his name, Wedding was a genuine snowboarding prospect. Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1981, he showed early promise in alpine snowboarding events. According to Wikipedia’s account of his career, he won a bronze medal in parallel giant slalom at the 1999 Junior World Championships and followed it with a silver at the 2001 Junior World Championships — the kind of results that mark an athlete as one to watch.

Salt Lake City, 2002

Wedding’s competitive peak came at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he raced for Team Canada in the men’s parallel giant slalom. His Olympic result was modest: he finished 24th and did not advance out of the qualifying round, posting a time that left him just over a second off the pace needed to move on, according to reporting by ABC4 and Yahoo Sports on his Olympic record.

For most viewers at the time, that was the whole story — a national-team athlete who reached the sport’s biggest stage but did not medal. After the Games, according to multiple outlets, Wedding stepped away from competitive snowboarding, returned to the Vancouver area, and briefly attended Simon Fraser University before drifting away from sport entirely. In hindsight, that quiet exit from the slopes is where the public record of “Ryan Wedding, Olympian” essentially ends and the far darker chapter that prosecutors would later describe begins.

03The Turn to Crime as Alleged by Prosecutors

What happened next is laid out almost entirely in U.S. court filings and federal statements — which means it is the government’s version of events, not established fact. According to the Department of Justice, after leaving the sport Wedding gradually became enmeshed in the drug trade, and prosecutors now allege he rose to lead a sprawling cocaine-trafficking operation tied to the Sinaloa Cartel, using aliases that the FBI says included “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy.”

The timeline below is drawn from the federal indictment and statements by the DOJ, FBI, and major outlets including CNN, NBC News, and ABC News. Each entry reflects what the government alleges.

• 2002Wedding competes at the Salt Lake City Olympics, then leaves competitive snowboarding and returns to the Vancouver area, per multiple outlets.
• Nov 2023Prosecutors allege Wedding directed the killings of two members of a family in Caledon, Ontario, in retaliation over a stolen drug shipment; a third person was wounded, according to the DOJ.
• 2024According to the DOJ, a May 2024 killing is also tied to the enterprise, and an October 2024 federal indictment charges Wedding and co-defendants with running a continuing criminal enterprise and trafficking cocaine.
• Jan 2025Prosecutors allege Wedding ordered the murder of a witness in the federal case against him; the witness was shot to death in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, per the DOJ.
• Mar 2025The FBI adds Wedding to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, with a reward later raised to $15 million for information leading to his arrest.

According to the DOJ, the indictment charges Wedding with offenses including running a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute and to export cocaine, and murder in connection with drug crimes. The FBI has alleged the network shipped enormous quantities of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, into the United States and Canada. Again, Wedding has pleaded not guilty, and these remain allegations a jury has not tested.

04The FBI Manhunt and Capture

One of America’s most wanted

By placing Wedding on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in March 2025, the FBI elevated him into rare company — a roster historically reserved for the country’s most sought-after suspects. The reward for information leading to his arrest, initially set at $10 million, was raised to $15 million in late 2025, according to the FBI and reporting by The Hill. Federal officials said at the time that Wedding was believed to be hiding in Mexico, allegedly under the protection of cartel associates.

The FBI’s public framing of the case was unusually pointed. Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, tied the athlete’s history directly to the allegations against him.

“Ryan Wedding’s athletic drive snowballed into a life of violence and, instead of conquering mountains, he mastered a deadly drug distribution enterprise and will continue to order murders while he enjoys protection by his cartel associates and others.” — Akil Davis, FBI Assistant Director in Charge, Los Angeles Field Office

The arrest in Mexico City

The manhunt ended in January 2026. According to the FBI and reporting by CNN, NBC News, and The Washington Post, Wedding was taken into custody in Mexico City and was to be brought to the United States to face the charges. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the capture on January 23, 2026.

There was some dispute over exactly how it happened. Initial reporting, including by ABC News, indicated Wedding had turned himself in, but his defense attorney, Anthony Colombo, disputed that characterization, saying his client “didn’t surrender. He was apprehended, he was arrested,” according to ABC7 Los Angeles. The disagreement is itself a reminder that, even on basic logistics, accounts diverge — and that the core criminal allegations have yet to be resolved in court.

05Where the Case Stands Now

Pleaded not guilty, held without bail

Wedding made his first U.S. federal court appearance in late January 2026 and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, according to CNN, PBS NewsHour, and ABC7 Los Angeles. The proceedings have been centered in Southern California, with appearances reported in federal court in Santa Ana and the case tied to the Central District of California. A judge ordered him detained without bail, per ABC7’s coverage of the hearing.

His attorney, Anthony Colombo, has publicly contested the government’s narrative and described his client as holding up under the pressure, telling reporters that Wedding’s Olympic background reflected “mental toughness,” according to ABC7 Los Angeles. As of mid-2026, the case is moving through pretrial proceedings, with reporting indicating a trial was scheduled for the spring.

What’s at stake

The Department of Justice has said that, if convicted, Wedding would face a mandatory minimum of life in federal prison on the continuing criminal enterprise charge, and that he and co-defendants charged in connection with the alleged murders could face a maximum of life in prison. The DOJ described the broader case as one in which Wedding is accused of “overseeing the operations of a criminal enterprise — including by engaging in witness intimidation tactics such as murder.”

It bears repeating: those are the government’s allegations. A plea of not guilty has been entered, no verdict has been reached, and under the U.S. system Wedding is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. There is no verified, official social media account associated with him that this article can responsibly point readers to, so none is linked here.

06Summary

Ryan Wedding’s story is one of the more startling fall-from-grace narratives in recent memory — an Olympic athlete whose name now appears in federal indictments rather than results sheets. But it is, for now, an unfinished story: the most serious claims against him are allegations that he denies and that a court has yet to decide.

For now, Ryan Wedding sits in U.S. custody, awaiting a trial that will determine which version of his life prevails: the one the government has laid out in court filings, or the one his defense insists has yet to be proven. Until then, every accusation against the former Olympian remains exactly that — an accusation.