FBI arrests ex‑Olympian Ryan Wedding, accused of running crypto-linked drug ring

Beincrypto reports the FBI announced the arrest of Ryan Wedding, a 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, on charges of cocaine trafficking and murder; Mexican authorities said he turned himself in at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. Authorities said the arrest ends a decade-long manhunt for one of the Department of Justice’s most wanted fugitives.

The FBI alleges Wedding ran a transnational cocaine-trafficking operation that moved hundreds of kilograms from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada, and that he used pseudonyms including “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy.” Prosecutors previously offered a $15 million reward in 2024 and have accused him of ordering the murder of a witness in Colombia, according to officials.

The indictment states Wedding’s enterprise concealed proceeds using U.S. and Canadian dollars and cryptocurrencies, relying on a Tether-based system that split large sums into smaller USDT transactions routed through multiple intermediary wallets before converging in a central Tether wallet allegedly controlled by Wedding.

Key Topics

Crypto, Ryan Wedding, Sinaloa Cartel, Usdt, Tether, Chainalysis