Former Olympian, Accused Kingpin Pleads Not Guilty To 17 Charges

SANTA ANA, CA — An accused drug lord and former Olympic snowboarder pleaded not guilty Monday to charges alleging he ran a drug trafficking organization and ordered the killing of a witness.

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding faces 17 federal charges stemming from the accusations.

The 44-year-old man was listed sixth on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List until his arrest late last week.

Wedding was believed to have been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade, and had been wanted on cocaine trafficking and murder charges since 2024.

During his appearance in federal court in Santa Ana Monday, Wedding was ordered to remain jailed without bail. He is due back in court — a federal court in Los Angeles — for a status conference on Feb. 11, with a tentative trial date set for March 24.

Wedding was taken into custody in Mexico City on Thursday night and was flown into Los Angeles Friday to face federal charges.

Prior to his capture, there was a $15 million reward offered for information leading to his capture and conviction.

Wedding 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.

In November, United States Attorney General Pam Bondi announced 10 other defendants in connection with the case had been arrested.

The indictment accuses Wedding of orchestrating the January killing of a witness in Colombia to help Wedding avoid extradition to the U.S.

The witness, Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, was shot and killed in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia. Acebedo-Garcia was a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case against Wedding, KTLA reported.

“Wedding placed the bounty on the victim’s head, and the erroneous belief that the victim’s 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,” said Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California.

Wedding was believed to be living in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, for which he was funneling massive quantities of drugs into Canada and the U.S., according to federal investigators.

The drugs came from Mexico and were held in Los Angeles stash houses before couriers took them to Canada in long-haul semi-trucks, according to prosecutors.

"Ryan Wedding's athletic drive snowballed into a life of violence and, instead of conquering mountains, he mastered a deadly drug distribution enterprise,'' Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles bureau, said in November.

If convicted, Wedding — and the defendants charged in connection with the murder — could face life in federal prison, according to federal prosecutors.

Wedding competed in the Giant Slalom snowboarding competition in the 2002 Olympics.

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