By Catherine Yang and Stacy Robinson
The Justice Department on Nov. 19 announced new charges against Ryan James Wedding, a former Olympian who was indicted in 2024 for allegedly running a drug trafficking network.
He is being charged with additional counts of witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a press conference on Nov. 19 that Wedding is accused of murdering a federal witness in January. Wedding allegedly made a website that posted photos of the witness and the witness’s wife, allowing others to help locate them. Bondi said the witness was “gunned down” at a restaurant before he could testify. He had been shot five times in the head, according to law enforcement. Wedding and 14 others have been charged in relation to the murder of the witness.
The U.S. government is offering $2 million for information that could lead to the arrest of those involved in the witness’s murder.
The State Department is also raising the bounty on Wedding from $10 million to $15 million.
Wedding, a Canadian, is accused of running a transnational drug trafficking ring that spans Colombia, Mexico, Canada, and the United States and has allegedly moved tons of narcotics into the United States.
“This is a billion dollars of drugs a year that he is being charged with being responsible for,” Bondi said.
More than 35 people have been indicted as part of this investigation, Bondi said, and more than 2 metric tons of cocaine and $15 million in assets have been seized.
FBI Director Kash Patel said at the briefing that Wedding was the “modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar,” a Colombian drug lord dubbed the “King of Cocaine” in the 1980s. Patel said the suspect is the kind of drug trafficker “that we have not seen in a long time.”
Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said Wedding is working with and being protected by terrorist organization the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
“Ryan Wedding is extremely dangerous, he’s extremely violent, and he’s extremely wealthy,” Davis said.
“He has trafficked record levels of drugs—fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine—all the things that are rampant on our streets, he’s been a part of that and a main cause of that, and that is why you have seen so much resources dedicated to dismantling his organization.”
Prefacing a description of Wedding, Davis said that Wedding may have changed his hair color or other features to avoid capture, “but someone like Wedding is going to stick out in Mexico, and that’s why we’re soliciting the public’s help.”
Wedding was already previously charged with attempted murder, with law enforcement alleging his organization murdered “dozens” of people at his direction. He is one of the FBI’s top 10 wanted fugitives.
Bilal Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said Wedding is the most prolific narcotics trafficker in Canada, but in the United States, Wedding used Southern California as his main hub.
John Hurley, undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, announced financial sanctions against Wedding and his enterprise for laundering money, “assisting in murders, and even training hitmen.”
Michael Duheme, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said that the RCMP arrested seven Canadians on Nov. 18 related to Wedding’s criminal ring, and Wedding remains “one of the top threats to Canadian public safety.” They will be extradited to the United States to face charges of conspiracy to murder and trafficking.
Davis said that Mexican authorities are also cooperating, but “significant protection by the Sinaloa Cartel” has made Wedding’s capture difficult.
