Drug kingpin Olympic snowboarder hit with $15m FBI bounty after being accused of 'killing government witness'
Former Canadian athlete Ryan Wedding 'went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities'
A former Olympic snowboarder-turned-drug kingpin currently sought by the FBI on a $15m bounty over drug ring allegations has been accused of killing a key government witness.
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Ryan Wedding, 44, a former Olympic snowboarder who competed for Team Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics, remains at-large after he was accused of running an international drug trafficking operation.
Now, it's been revealed that the former athlete has been charged with orchestrating and killing a key federal witness in Colombia to avoid extradition to the US.
Wedding, who was charged in his absence, remains in Colombia according to FBI intelligence.
Wanted over a "transnational criminal enterprise," Attorney General Pam Bondi made the public announcement alongside FBI Director Kash Patel overnight.
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The pair called on the Canadian national a top threat to the United States and "one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organisers in the world."
The joint announcement at the Department of Justice HQ in Washington D.C. saw the pair reveal the indictment against Wedding, detailing charges of witness intimidation, murder, and money laundering.
According to the bureau, Wedding is currently behind the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.
Bondi detailed further allegations linked to the trafficking of other illegal drugs - including fentanyl, the subject of a Trump-backed crackdown.
Wedding is also accused of collaborating with the Mexican-based Sinaloa cartel.
Bondi went on to detail how the cartel are said to be "closely protecting him."
Showing a large wanted poster of Wedding, the Attorney General went on to detail how the cartel is responsible for importing 60-metric-tons of cocaine into the United States from Mexico.
It's estimated that the cartel currently makes a billion dollar profit, according to the FBI.
"He's responsible for a narco terrorism program we have not seen in a long time," Patel told reporters.
"You do not get to be a drug dealer and evade the law," he added.
More than 35 people have so far been indicted over links to the operation.
Wedding, who hails from Thunder Bay, Ontario, competed in the Men's Parallel Giant Slalom at the 2011 Salt Lake games.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, John K. Hurley, added that Wedding was "one of the most notorious criminals and narco-traffickers still evading justice."