Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding wanted in U.S. cocaine trafficking case : NPR

Ryan Wedding ceremony, who represented Canada in snowboarding on the Salt Lake Metropolis Olympics in 2002, is now a fugitive from the U.S. justice system, accused of main a violent worldwide drug trafficking ring. Wedding ceremony allegedly orchestrated the cargo of tons of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, the U.S. and Canada — and he’s accused of ordering a number of killings.

The FBI says Wedding ceremony, 43, is a fugitive and could also be in Mexico. A federal arrest warrant was issued for him one month in the past within the U.S. Central District Court docket in Los Angeles. He is been working with the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace tells NPR.

A grand jury indictment was first filed in June, charging Wedding ceremony with quite a few felonies. He’s the lead defendant in a superseding indictment that was unsealed this week, naming 16 folks in all.

“They’ve triggered an avalanche of violent crimes, together with brutal murders,” Matthew Allen, particular agent accountable for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles division, mentioned in an announcement. “Wedding ceremony, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a lifetime of incessant crimes.”

Authorities allege that the drug conspiracy operated on a big scale, itemizing areas from Colombia and Mexico to 3 California counties — Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino — and Miami-Dade County, Fla.

Brokers had been in a position to monitor the group’s actions earlier this yr, due to a mole who relayed coded messages about alleged drug shipments despatched on the encrypted messaging utility Threema, in response to the indictment.

The indictment describes an elaborate system through which transportation dispatchers based mostly in Canada allegedly used dollar-bill serial numbers as “tokens” to confirm co-conspirators’ identities as they organized for semi-trucks to hold tons of cocaine from Southern California into Canada. The alleged leaders of the enterprise’s transportation arm agreed to a flat charge of $220,000 Canadian for every load, in response to courtroom paperwork.

As a part of the federal investigation — dubbed Operation Large Slalom, echoing an Olympic occasion Wedding ceremony as soon as competed in — regulation enforcement brokers caught defendants with a complete of some 1,800 kilograms (1.8 metric tons) of cocaine, in response to the Justice Division. Additionally they seized weapons, $255,400 in money, and greater than $3.2 million in cryptocurrency.

This week, Operation Large Slalom’s attain prolonged to an elite enclave in Aventura, Fla. The FBI raided a mansion value thousands and thousands of {dollars} {that a} defendant, Miami Seashore music govt and restaurateur Nahim Jorge Bonilla, had reportedly purchased from music star DJ Khaled.

Wedding ceremony had despatched Bonilla 12 kilograms of cocaine, in response to the indictment — 7 that had been paid for, and 5 on consignment. In June, Wedding ceremony threatened to kill Bonilla’s mom if the remaining debt wasn’t settled inside three days, courtroom papers say. Inside every week, Bonilla allegedly paid Wedding ceremony for two kilograms of cocaine and despatched 20 kilograms of methamphetamine to Montreal, Canada, to settle the remainder of the debt.

In different instances, murders had been allegedly carried out.

“Wedding ceremony and Clark allegedly directed the November 20, 2023, murders of two members of a household in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug cargo,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace says. The company says one other individual was killed in Might over an unpaid debt, allegedly on Wedding ceremony and Clark’s orders.

Twelve of the 16 defendants have been arrested. They embody 4 Canadians arrested in Ontario this week, and three Canadians arrested within the U.S., in response to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. However Wedding ceremony and several other others stay at massive.

If convicted, Wedding ceremony and several other co-defendants “would face a compulsory minimal penalty of life in federal jail on the homicide and tried homicide fees,” in response to the Justice Division. Different fees within the case additionally carry equally stiff penalties.

It’s the second time U.S. authorities have leveled severe drug fees in opposition to Wedding ceremony: In 2009, he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and served greater than a yr in jail. Canadian authorities had additionally beforehand investigated him as a part of drug inquests.

On the Salt Lake Metropolis Video games in 2002, Wedding ceremony positioned twenty fourth within the parallel large slalom, in response to his Olympic bio web page.