Ryan James Wedding, 43, a professional snowboarder who competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, has been accused of running a sophisticated drug trafficking ring that ordered multiple murders.
Federal prosecutors allege that Wedding chose the path of crime after his snowboarding career.
Specifically, they claim he ran a drug ring that “routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine” from Columbia through Mexico to Southern California.
From there, the drugs would head throughout the United States and Canada, according to prosecutors.
Wedding and his alleged accomplice, Andrew Clark, 34, both Canadian citizens living in Mexico, are said to have orchestrated the murders of three people over various drug disputes.
Canada’s Ryan Wedding competes in the qualifying round of the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboard event during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah.
Wedding, known by many aliases, remains at large, according to the FBI
“He chose to become a major drug trafficker and a murderer,” U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada said of Wedding during a news conference.
Wedding remains at large, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Krysti Hawkins, who also spoke at the conference.
On Thursday, prosecutors unsealed the 16-count superseding indictment against Wedding, Clark and 14 other defendants who are alleged to be part of the gang.
Wedding and Clark, who was arrested this month in Mexico, were the first defendants in the original indictment.
The new indictment accuses the group of funneling massive quantities of cocaine throughout the United States and Canada — approximately 60 tons per year, according to Estrada.
Prosecutors said Hardeep Ratte and Gurpreet Singh ran the Canadian drug transportation network.
At a demonstration, prosecutors show the items that authorities seized from the drug trafficking network. This included more than a ton of cocaine, dozens of rounds of ammunition, and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency.
The cocaine was stored in stash houses in Los Angeles before being trucked to Canada, according to authorities.
Prosecutors called it a billion-dollar operation and, as part of their investigation, seized more than a ton of cocaine, dozens of ammunition and more than $3 million in cryptocurrency.
And to protect their wealth, prosecutors said, Wedding and Clark would do almost anything.
‘They were murderers. Anyone who stood in their way would be attacked with violence, including murder,” Estrada said.
They were accused of hiring hitmen to carry out revenge killings on people they thought were hindering their profits.
The duo allegedly ordered the murder of two members of an Indian family in Ontario, Canada, because they believed they had stolen a shipment of drugs.
Estrada said it was a case of mistaken identity. The couple was shot in front of their daughter, who was also shot but managed to survive with serious injuries.
Wedding and Clark also ordered the attack on another person for not paying a drug debt owed to them, Estrada said.
According to prosecutors, the victim was shot to death in his car while sitting in the driveway of his home.
Wedding, whose aliases include ‘The Boss’, ‘Giant’ and ‘Public Enemy’, is the main defendant and was charged with eight felonies.