Ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding Arrested in Mexico on Drug and Murder Charges

Ryan Wedding, a 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, was arrested in Mexico on Thursday, the F.B.I. announced on Friday. The agency said he has been charged with smuggling cocaine into the United States and with murder, ending a long search, the F.B.I.’s director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

The F.B.I. has said that Mr. Wedding ran a major drug trafficking organization and collaborated with the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, where authorities said he had been hiding. The agency also said Mr. Wedding had been on its list of 10 most wanted fugitives.

Mr. Wedding was first indicted in October 2024 on cocaine trafficking charges and was later charged with murder, including the killing of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, a Canadian who had been expected to testify against him. The authorities said Mr. Wedding hired a hit man to kill Mr. Acebedo-Garcia in 2025 in Medellin, Colombia.

The arrest comes two weeks before the Winter Olympics begin in Italy; Mr. Wedding competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Key Topics

World, Ryan Wedding, Sinaloa Cartel, Fbi, Mexico, Jonathan Acebedo-garcia