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Ryan Wedding / BREAKING NEWS: Ryan Wedding — The Olympic Drug Kingpin — Taken
Former Olympic snowboarder and FBI Most Wanted fugitive Ryan Wedding arrested
Ryan Wedding, ex-Olympic snowboarder accused of being a drug kingpin, is arrested
Kash Patel says Olympic kingpin Ryan Wedding's capture is latest success in Trump’s crackdown on crime
#Ryan_Wedding
Former Olympic snowboarder and FBI Most Wanted fugitive Ryan Wedding arrested
Ryan Wedding, ex-Olympic snowboarder accused of being a drug kingpin, is arrested
Kash Patel says Olympic kingpin Ryan Wedding's capture is latest success in Trump’s crackdown on crime
#Ryan_Wedding
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NewsTranscript
00:00Breaking news, Ryan Wedding, the former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin,
00:05the man on the FBI's most wanted list, has reportedly been captured.
00:10Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime, I'm Jesse Weber.
00:17Breaking news on a story that we've been covering here on Sidebar.
00:20It is now being reported that 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder
00:25turned alleged drug kingpin, Ryan Wedding, has been arrested.
00:29And this is after being added to the FBI's top 10 most wanted list of fugitives back in March of 2025.
00:36There was a $15 million reward for information leading to his capture or prosecution.
00:42Now, he has been accused of running a vicious and violent and complex drug trafficking operation
00:49that reportedly resulted in the importation of 60 metric tons of cocaine into the United States a year.
00:55You know, according to the FBI, he, quote,
00:58routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California
01:04to Canada and other locations in the United States.
01:08Now, I should be clear about something.
01:09At the time of this recording, details are a bit scarce about the circumstances leading to his arrest,
01:14leading to his capture.
01:15But, however, however, we know that he has already been facing charges.
01:20He was indicted on federal murder, witness tampering, intimidation, money laundering, drug trafficking charges.
01:28He is accused of orchestrating the shooting of a witness in a restaurant,
01:32namely that he placed a bounty on the witness's head, quote,
01:36in the erroneous belief that the victim's death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him
01:42and his international drug trafficking ring.
01:44The man referred to by reported aliases as El Jefe, Giant, Public Enemy, James Conrad King, Jesse King,
01:53this guy was the subject of federal authorities' interest for a while.
01:57FBI Director Cash Patel previously said of Wedding, quote,
02:00You do not get to be a drug kingpin and evade the law.
02:04Make no mistake about it, Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar.
02:09He's a modern iteration of El Chapo Guzman.
02:11He will not evade justice.
02:14Attorney General Pam Bondi said, quote,
02:16He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world.
02:21He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.
02:25And it should also be noted that multiple people have also been indicted
02:28in connection with Wedding's alleged operation here.
02:32A.G. Bondi claiming that more than 35 people have been indicted,
02:36that weapons, over $3 million in cryptocurrency, over $13 million in assets have all been seized.
02:42And it was just last month when FBI officials confirmed that Mexican authorities seized $40 million
02:48in motorcycles believed to be owned by the former Olympian.
02:52And by the way, talking former Olympian, I mean, it's pretty remarkable.
02:55If all the allegations are true, this is a 180 for the man who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics out in Utah.
03:03As Akeel Davis, assistant director of the FBI's L.A. Field Office, previously said,
03:08Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics
03:11to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada.
03:17And we learned more details about Ryan Wedding's capture today in a press conference that was held by authorities.
03:23My name is Cash Patel. I'm the director of the FBI.
03:26Today, we are here because of President Trump's incredible leadership
03:29and commitment to supporting law enforcement across the country and around the world.
03:33We are here today to announce another record historic achievement
03:36because of law enforcement partnerships across America and across the globe
03:40come together to fight crime in all corners of the earth.
03:47Today, we are announcing a capture of another FBI's most wanted top 10 fugitive, Ryan Wedding.
03:54That makes six top 10 FBI captures in one year alone.
03:58To put that in perspective, that's two more than the entirety of the prior administration.
04:03And none of this would be possible without the tremendous leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi
04:08and the Department of Justice and our partners and prosecutors
04:11at the United States Attorney's Office here in L.A. and our Los Angeles Field Office.
04:15Here, you'll see many of our brave partners, including the Commissioner of the RCMP,
04:20the Chief of Police and LAPD, our L.A. Field Office, ADEC,
04:24along with our partners from DEA and CBP and more.
04:27This is what a united front looks like.
04:30And just to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is,
04:32he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco-trafficker in modern times.
04:37He is a modern-day El Chapo.
04:39He is a modern-day Pablo Escobar.
04:41And he thought he could evade justice.
04:43But these brave men and women put together a prosecution package,
04:46put together an investigative package, put together an operations strategy,
04:50and here we are today bringing him to justice for trafficking hundreds of kilos of cocaine
04:55and also for the murder of innocent civilians.
04:59This individual and his organization and the Sinaloa cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America
05:06and killed too many of our youth and corrupted too many of our citizens.
05:11And that ends today.
05:11I also want to have a tremendous shout-out to the government of Mexico.
05:16President Scheinbaum, Secretary Harfouch, and the military and law enforcement officers in Mexico
05:22worked hand-in-glove with our teams on the ground there to apprehend, last night in Mexico City, Ryan Wedding.
05:29I was privileged to be there on a previously planned trip,
05:32and this was a great operation that came together through interagency success
05:37because no one behind me and to the side of me cares about credit.
05:40They care about putting away the bad guys and safeguarding our communities.
05:44That is the leadership that President Trump has brought to the presidency.
05:48That is the support that he has brought to law enforcement from coast to coast.
05:52And I just can't say how thankful I am to be a small part of this and lead the FBI.
05:57These men and women do the hard work.
05:59But when you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front.
06:03And that's what you're seeing here.
06:04You're seeing global partnerships from coast to coast.
06:07I want to give a special shout-out to our ambassador in Mexico.
06:13Ambassador Ron Johnson quarterbacked this effort for us from Mexico for a year-plus.
06:19As soon as he got to post at our new embassy compound there, he made this a priority, and he came through.
06:25This is what leadership looks like.
06:27And this is a historic 2025 year the FBI is having.
06:31To put it in perspective, the FBI has had 67,000 arrests this year alone.
06:35That is a 200 percent increase.
06:37The FBI has captured six of the top ten most fugitives on our board.
06:42The FBI has also seized enough fentanyl to kill 150 million Americans, a 31 percent increase.
06:49The FBI has arrested 35 percent more espionage corrupt actors from China, Russia, the DPRK, and Iran.
06:56The FBI has found and identified 6,000 children that were missing.
07:00That is up 22 percent.
07:02All of these historic, record-breaking numbers lead to another historic, record-breaking number brought to you by President Trump's leadership.
07:10That is a 20 percent decline in the murder rate in the United States of America.
07:14That is an all-time record for the modern era.
07:17Our communities are safeguarded by these men and women.
07:21We are thankful to be partnered with the Department of Justice and the relentless efforts to safeguard our communities by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Claude Blanche.
07:30But we're not done today.
07:32We're going to get back on the plane, and we've captured and apprehended another top ten fugitive while we were in Mexico.
07:37And we're going to head east and hand him over to local law enforcement authorities.
07:41I also want to give a huge shout-out to state and local law enforcement.
07:44This work is not possible at all without them on the front lines every single day.
07:50They are the greatest partners we could ever have, and thank God we have a president who backs the blue.
07:54And that is what results look like.
07:56Personally, for me at the FBI, I want to thank our hostage rescue team.
08:00I want to thank our special forces, excuse me, our special flight operations unit.
08:05I want to thank our headquarters component, our L.A. field office.
08:08This was an enterprise-wide success.
08:12The moving pieces to pull this off and apprehend one of the world's most wanted criminals and bring him to justice in the United States of America can only be done when you have leadership from the top with President Trump, the Attorney General, and all these great leaders here.
08:25I'm going to turn it over to the assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, Akeel Davis, for some more comments on the case itself and the investigation.
08:35Thanks, Les.
08:38Good morning.
08:43My name is Akeel Davis.
08:45I'm the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office.
08:49We told you in November we would find Mr. Wedding, and today, that day has arrived.
08:55The long arm of the law extends beyond our borders.
08:59This marks the 500th capture of an FBI top 10 fugitive since its inception 75 years ago.
09:09I want to congratulate the devoted team effort that led to this capture.
09:12Today is a great day for the FBI and for our partners here today, specifically our partners at the RCMP, the LAPD, and the DEA, and so many other agencies at every level.
09:25But it's also a good day for the victims of this case.
09:30Ryan Wedding tormented several people and several families that will never be the same.
09:36But today, they get the justice that they sought.
09:39Investigators worked tirelessly for well over a year to find Mr. Wedding, where he will face federal prosecution.
09:48As you know, Mr. Wedding and others are charged for their roles in a transnational organized crime network,
09:54shipping massive amounts of cocaine, approximately 60 metric tons, through Southern California on its way to Canada.
10:03Mr. Wedding is also wanted for orchestrating multiple murders of victims and government witnesses.
10:11In addition to the massive manhunt that went into apprehending Mr. Wedding,
10:15we worked with State Department to offer rewards and the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control,
10:23which imposed crushing sanctions in this case.
10:26This case is also being worked under the auspices of the Homeland Security Task Force here in Los Angeles.
10:34I'd like to provide a few details to illustrate the sheer work that has gone into this case.
10:40We've arrested 36 people for their role in this organization.
10:43Again, we've worked with our Canadian partners, our Mexican partners, our partners in Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.
10:52The Treasury Department has sanctioned 19 people, including Ryan Wedding himself.
10:57We've seen mountain of drugs, cash, weapons.
11:01We've seen the Mercedes-Benz, estimated over $15 million.
11:04We've seen dozens of motorcycles worth approximately $40 million, and other valuable artwork and jewelry.
11:14Ryan Wedding will be held in custody over the weekend and is anticipated to have his initial appearance on Monday morning.
11:21While we're happy about this victory, we have a lot of work ahead of us to prosecute this case and continue our investigation.
11:28I want to emphasize we are still seeking multiple individuals wanted for their roles in this organization.
11:35The State Department is still offering a $2 million reward for information leading to additional arrests.
11:42I ask anyone with information to contact us at 424-494-0614.
11:50That number can be called internationally, domestically via WhatsApp, signal, or telegram.
11:55I also would like to thank, lastly, the Ontario International Airport for making this possible, securing the security of the scene, and allowing us to plan this in such a way.
12:07Thank you, and I'd now like to turn it over to Chief McDonnell of the Los Angeles Police Department.
12:12Thank you, and thank you all for being here today.
12:13The Los Angeles Police Department is proud to stand with our federal, international, and local partners as we announce the arrest of Ryan James Wedding.
12:29This has been a coordinated, intelligence-driven investigation into Wedding's global drug trafficking organization, which used Los Angeles as its primary point of distribution.
12:42Our collective efforts led to the seizure of more than 2300 kilograms of cocaine, 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, 44 kilograms of fentanyl, eight firearms, and over $55 million in illicit assets.
12:57This outcome reflects the tireless and seamless collaboration of the FBI, the LAPD, the DEA, and we're joined by Brian Clark here, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
13:13Together, we have disrupted a major narcotics pipeline impacting Los Angeles, the United States, and Canada.
13:21This is a significant blow to a criminal network that has endangered communities across borders.
13:28I want to personally thank the dedicated men and women from every agency represented here, from my own agency, the work of gang and narcotics division particularly.
13:38Their relentless commitment over the past two years has made this operation possible.
13:42Because of their work, Los Angeles is safer, and those responsible are being held accountable.
13:50We appreciate our media partners for showing up today on such short notice. Thank you for that.
13:55It's now my pleasure to be able to introduce to you the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Mike Touham.
14:08Good morning, everyone. I would like to start off by thanking Director Patel for inviting me here on this special occasion.
14:14It goes without saying that no single agency or nation can combat transnational organized crime alone.
14:22The arrest of Ryan Wedding is the result of a strong, trusted partnership.
14:27I want to thank the men and women from the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Department of Justice, Los Angeles Police Force,
14:35and all the U.S. and Canadian law enforcement that took part in this.
14:40They've spent countless of hours and many sacrifices to lead us to where we're at here today.
14:46And without the results, we can proudly say that our communities, our countries are much safer with the arrest of Ryan Wedding.
14:52Thank you very much.
14:54Thanks, guys. Thanks.
14:56We'll take a few questions.
14:57Without getting into operational sensitivities, Ryan Wedding was apprehended last night in Mexico City.
15:08And to safeguard the integrity of the ongoing investigation, we will not go into that.
15:13But I think it goes without saying, to go down to Mexico to find a guy who's been on the lam for multiple years
15:18for some of the most egregious crimes on planet Earth, takes an interagency-wide effort, led out by President Trump, our DOJ, and our partners in Mexico,
15:26and very grateful for that partnership.
15:28Who has fired the champion?
15:35Did you hear it?
15:36Sorry, go ahead.
15:38Who was the second person who has fired the champion?
15:41Unrelated to Mr. Wedding's apprehension, an individual by the name of Mr. Castillo,
15:46another top ten fugitive on the FBI's most wanted list, was apprehended also in Mexico last week.
15:52We are going to be transporting him east right after we depart here today.
15:59Mr. Wedding, as the gentleman stated, Mr. Wedding is in custody already.
16:06He was transported off the plane.
16:07The indictment stems from the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's Office, so the investigators, the police, will handle that appropriately in that jurisdiction.
16:21This arrest was a success of interagency law enforcement putting itself to the max every single day relentlessly.
16:35We will not comment on anyone regarding the rewards.
16:41We'll take one more question.
16:47Sorry, I can't hear you.
16:51Well, we came to Ontario because the weather's pretty nice here, but we also have to maximize operational security.
16:56We make these decisions jointly with our partners who run these airports.
17:00We make these decisions jointly with the local police force and our interagency officers.
17:05There are trigger points and earmarks that we have to meet to safely transport an individual of the level and caliber of Ryan Wedding.
17:12And so that collective decision was made to ensure the security of both the transportation and the federal transfer of custody that the FBI executed and also to ensure the safety of his confinement and ultimate prosecution.
17:25Thank you, everybody.
17:26Thank you, everybody.
17:27Have a great day.
17:28Now, to give you a sense of who we're talking about, okay, how monumental this is, this was
17:32our prior coverage on Ryan Wedding.
17:35You may know his face from Olympic glory, but now Ryan Wedding, he is the man that the FBI calls a modern day Pablo Escobar.
17:44According to a superseding indictment that was unsealed in the central district of California, the former Canadian snowboarder who once competed for his country is now accused of running a billion dollar international drug empire.
17:57U.S. authorities claim that he is the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada, flooding the U.S. with enough narcotics each year to equal the weight of 40 cars.
18:09Now, this story, as laid out by the Department of Justice, it gets even more sinister.
18:14After being indicted, Wedding is now accused of orchestrating the murder of a federal witness who was set to testify against him.
18:21The FBI claims that this witness was gunned down in a restaurant in Columbia.
18:25The State Department has raised the reward for his capture to a staggering $15 million, calling him one of the world's most dangerous fugitives.
18:34So the question becomes, if these allegations are true, how did an Olympian become an alleged drug lord?
18:40What does his shocking indictment reveal about the brutal nature, the reach of this alleged criminal enterprise?
18:47So I want to connect the dots here, try to understand this because it's shocking to say the least, how a promising athlete became one of the world's most wanted men.
18:56It all starts back in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
18:59OK, you have a young Canadian snowboarder named Ryan Wedding.
19:02He was just he was just 20 years old and he competed for his country in the parallel giant slalom.
19:09Now, he didn't medal, he finished 24th, but he was an Olympian.
19:13And after his athletic career ends, this is when things allegedly take a dark turn.
19:18Because by 2008, court records show that he was arrested in California for trying to buy cocaine from a U.S. government agent in a sting operation.
19:26He's convicted in 2010, serves about three years in U.S. prison.
19:30And once he's released and back in Canada, authorities claim that the scale of his operations explode.
19:37According to reporting from CBC in 2015, the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, charge him in Montreal as part of a massive cocaine trafficking ring.
19:47But this is the critical moment, OK?
19:49He apparently doesn't stick around to face the music.
19:51No, prosecutors believe that he flees to Mexico.
19:54And for the last decade, he has been on the run, according to them.
19:58He is accused of building his empire from afar.
20:02And I gotta tell you, what an empire this reportedly became.
20:06From his base in Mexico, authorities allege that Wedding began overseeing a transnational machine with a second-in-command named Andrew Clark.
20:15He is accused of working directly with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful and violent criminal organizations in the world.
20:21The product was cocaine, sourced from labs in Colombia.
20:24The route was through Mexico, across the U.S. border, and into Southern California.
20:29Los Angeles and the surrounding counties, they became, allegedly, his logistics hub, where the drugs were stored before being shipped north by a Canada-based transportation network using long-haul semi-trucks.
20:42This is allegedly a real organization, a complex organization.
20:47And the numbers, I gotta say, are almost incomprehensible.
20:50Federal prosecutors claim that his organization was responsible for importing 60 metric tons of cocaine into the U.S. every single year.
20:58And to put that into perspective, that is roughly the weight of 40 standard cars.
21:03But according to authorities, moving that much product, it requires absolute control.
21:09And that is where the alleged violence comes in.
21:12The indictment lays out a pattern of brutal killings that were used to settle scores and enforce discipline.
21:19That's their narrative.
21:20That's what the prosecution is going to allege if this goes to trial.
21:24And in one instance, he is accused of ordering a hit on a Canadian trucking dispatcher that he believed stole a 300-kilogram shipment from him.
21:33The assassins allegedly broke into the wrong house in Ontario in November of 2023, killing two innocent people, seriously injuring a third, mistakenly believing they were this dispatcher's family.
21:44And the violence didn't stop there.
21:46He's also accused of ordering another murder in May of 2024 over a drug debt.
21:51Plus, an April 1st, 2024 murder in Ontario carried out by Clark and an associate named Malik Cunningham.
21:59This is another allegation.
22:00The case that put Wedding on the FBI's 10 most wanted list in March of 2025 was already massive.
22:07But what happened next is what elevated this from a drug case to something out of a thriller, okay?
22:14Because after his indictment was unsealed, a federal witness was set to testify against him.
22:20And in January of 2025, that witness was located at a restaurant in Meni in Colombia.
22:26A gunman apparently walked in and shot him five times in the head.
22:32U.S. authorities say it was Ryan Wedding who ordered that hit, placing a $5 million bounty on the witness's head,
22:39with Chapman paying to have a photo of the man posted online on a website to help track him down.
22:45And this operation was sophisticated.
22:47They apparently used an $18,500 phone interception tool to track the witness and had a photographer document the corpse's proof.
22:56So that act led to this week's dramatic escalation.
23:00The reward for Wedding's capture was raised to $15 million.
23:04And in Operation Giant Slalom, 10 of his alleged associates were arrested in a coordinated international takedown,
23:12with 18 additional defendants being named.
23:14And it's a group that included a Canadian lawyer, a reggaeton musician, the operator of that very website that I mentioned before.
23:21Plus, you have some key alleged money launderers, like professional poker player Roland Sokolovsky, Bianca Canestillo Madrid.
23:30And a new sprawling indictment was unsealed, charging Wedding directly with this witness's murder.
23:38Now, the financial scale is staggering, because the indictment alleges that Wedding moved over $207 million through a tethered cryptocurrency wallet,
23:46using a sophisticated laundering system to hide, again, what is assumed to be billions of dollars worth of profits.
23:53So now the manhunt is more intense than ever.
23:55And the former Olympian, known on the street as Giant and El Jefe, is believed to be hiding in Mexico,
24:01protected by the very cartel that he works with. That's the allegation.
24:05He is 6'3", giant indeed.
24:08And the FBI believes that his size and his notoriety make him hard to hide.
24:14But so far, this is a guy who's managed to evade capture for 10 years, proving just how powerful and elusive
24:21that if these allegations are true, this alleged kingpin has become.
24:26So how does an operation of this scale and brutality actually work?
24:31What are the real legal challenges in bringing a fugitive of this magnitude to justice if these allegations are true?
24:39How do they handle a case like this? Are they going to catch Wedding?
24:42I mean, that's a big question.
24:43So to break all this down, I want to bring in criminal defense attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis.
24:48Eric, thank you so much for coming on. I just got to say, as I laid all this out, I'm still in shock of these allegations.
24:56I mean, I've heard of drug operations before. I've heard of cartels.
25:00I've never heard of a civilian, right?
25:03Somebody who was a former Olympian accused of doing something like this.
25:08I mean, you look at this alleged progression, this timeline.
25:12This is, I mean, just your reaction to something like this.
25:16Oh, gosh. I mean, you know, very unexpected.
25:19A lot of people, this is the last person they thought would be involved in such serious allegations.
25:25You know, according to reports, Kash Patel, the director of FBI, is characterizing Ryan Wedding as a modern-day Chapo Guzman, a modern-day Pablo Escobar.
25:34And that's just such a far cry from how the public knew him as this former Olympian snowboarder.
25:40And you, my understanding is you have prosecuted high-level drug traffickers in the past.
25:46When you hear about the operation, there is an element of such complexity.
25:51There are these moving parts. This was a real organization.
25:56Were you surprised that, if the allegations are true, that he has been able to be operating in this space for so long?
26:04And by the way, currently hasn't been captured.
26:07Well, Jesse, without a doubt, if the allegations are true, this is a complex, sophisticated, multinational drug trafficking ring at which Ryan Wedding was at the helm.
26:19And you're right. You know, there are so many witnesses.
26:22You look at the indictment itself. There are so many individuals listed there.
26:27All of these witnesses supplies different alleged incidents that span multiple countries here.
26:34And so it's going to be a massive undertaking by the federal government to try to bring these folks to justice, assuming that these allegations are true.
26:43How do they prosecute a case like this when you're talking about multiple people indicted, all different parts of this alleged operation?
26:51This feels like, again, a massive undertaking.
26:54What is the goal of an indictment like this?
26:56How do prosecutors structure it?
26:58Are they going to be trying to work out deals to try to get Ryan Wedding to maybe get some information about his whereabouts?
27:04How does this work?
27:05Right, Jesse. So there I'm sure during the investigative phase there were things like wiretaps.
27:11There were things like confidential informants and things of that sort.
27:16And then when it comes to the prosecution, it is so multilayered.
27:19There are so many moving pieces.
27:21You have to not only apprehend these folks and it's going to be difficult to find them.
27:25They're hiding. They're probably using aliases.
27:27They might be using false appearances even.
27:30But you have to get your ducks in a row.
27:32You have to line up your witnesses, get them under subpoena.
27:35I'm sure they are going to arrest some of the lower level folks, try to turn them into cooperating witnesses for the government against Ryan Wedding.
27:43But getting all of those things together and having it happen in America is going to be difficult, considering that all of these folks are sort of spanned out across multiple nations, Canada, America, Mexico and others.
27:58What did you make of the federal murder charge? Right.
28:00Because it's not just about drug trafficking.
28:02It's about alleged violence that he's accused of ordering assassinations.
28:06The assassination of that federal witness is that I would imagine that's common to see that level of violence if you're talking about a drug operation.
28:16Again, still shocking to take the allegations.
28:19It's true that a former Olympian is at the head of it.
28:22But when you talk about the payment structure, the casing of the area, the photographs.
28:28I mean, the idea of posting on this Canadian website, you know, the dirty news to post pictures of the witness to track them down using technology to track the witness down.
28:39That's a that's brazen and a level of sophistication.
28:42But it leads into this federal murder charge. Right.
28:47Oh, exactly.
28:48And, you know, it's common for criminal organizations to want to avoid prosecution and conviction by eliminating witnesses who might bring evidence against them in those cases.
28:59That's one of the allegations here.
29:01And, you know, alarmingly, that might not be the last alleged instance of witness intimidation or even killing of a witness as the players in this whole scheme become more public.
29:15And as the cartels learn of who is sort of informing against them, we could see even more violence on top of that.
29:23Like you mentioned, there are financial crimes that are alleged even involving cryptocurrency.
29:28There is going to be a document trail.
29:30And so, you know, so many different types of alleged crimes that go into this larger conspiracy case.
29:37He's been a fugitive since 2015.
29:40And for nearly a decade, he's evaded capture, reportedly protected by the Sinaloa cartel.
29:46What makes that difficult?
29:48What makes that?
29:49How is that complicated to try to catch him to try to, you know, even if there's is it a failure of international cooperation?
29:58Is there protections?
29:59Are there trade, you know, there's specific things that they have to do?
30:03Because I think that makes it very, very difficult, even with the federal government raising the reward to $15 million for information leading to his capture.
30:13This is still going to be a massive undertaking, right?
30:16Yes.
30:17And I mean, to a lot of these folks who might have knowledge, you know, $15 million is a ton of money, but that's not necessarily worth their life.
30:25You know, I think they have a very real fear that if they, you know, let's say they see Ryan down in Mexico somewhere.
30:31They're going to be disinclined to go to the government, to go to authorities, certainly go to the American government and say, oh, yeah, hey, he's right here.
30:40Because, you know, in a week from that, from that time, they could have put themselves in grave peril.
30:46And so just locating him is going to be difficult.
30:49And then if he's out of the country, there's an extradition process.
30:53If he makes to a country like Vietnam, they don't extradite to America.
30:58And so my apprehension is that he is probably making travel plans as we speak if he has not effectuated those already.
31:05And I'm going to go more into the indictment and get your perspective on different aspects of it.
31:11But let's say he is captured and let's say he does go to trial on a plethora of different charges here.
31:17What is a realistic legal outcome for him?
31:21Because I am curious, what is a possible defense that he could mount in other federal drug trafficking cases where drug kingpins or alleged drug kingpins were brought to trial?
31:32What are some of the defenses that you see and what is a realistic legal outcome based on this?
31:38You know, if these allegations are proven at trial, he's looking at decades and decades in prison, probably his entire life.
31:45But that's that's not going to be as easy as some folks might think.
31:49You know, within these larger criminal organizations, there are so many layers, there are so many levels of authority.
31:56And so, you know, they're saying that Ryan Wedding ordered a hit on somebody.
32:02Well, how do you prove that? Do you have text messages?
32:04He probably didn't put it in an email.
32:06And so you've got to tie it to him.
32:09And that's going to be difficult when there are actual other people carrying out his his alleged bidding.
32:15And so, you know, he's going to try to remove himself from that organization and say, hey, look, this was all other folks doing this kind of stuff.
32:23I kind of got caught in the crosshairs.
32:25And on top of that, he even might try to strike a teal with the government.
32:29You never know.
32:30And let me ask you this.
32:32Oh, you mean.
32:33Oh, you mean him being a witness against other members of a cartel?
32:38Sure.
32:39Yeah.
32:40I mean, you look at the Chapo Guzman case.
32:42My understanding is that there was a family member might have been his son or something who was cooperating at one point with the government.
32:49And so it wouldn't be unheard of even for high level folks in such a sophisticated criminal organization to explore that option.
32:56If these allegations are true is one of the things that kept him.
33:00I don't know if it's under the radar or able to create an organization like this again, if these allegations are true, because he's not somebody who was born, you know, in one in a foreign country that was, you know, part of a family, part of a cartel from the from the beginning that he has such a he was a civilian.
33:19Is that one of the things that maybe helped him again if these allegations are true to to be able to pull off something like this?
33:26Well, Gus, I mean, he's not the typical person that immediately comes to mind when you think of some allegedly murderous large drug cartel.
33:36He's the former Olympian. And and so perhaps there was sort of less eyes on him as this alleged criminal enterprise grew and continued its conduct.
33:47And he was able to sort of fly under the radar and avoid detection.
33:52You know, he's not at least from from the outset wasn't associating with folks who are, you know, career criminals and that kind of thing.
33:59It seems like there was some kind of turning point. And I think the public is really looking at how things evolved into the place that we're at presently.
34:07Yeah, the sheer scale of these allegations, it demanded a response from the very top of American law enforcement.
34:14And that is why we saw this response on November 19th in a press conference from the U.S. Department of Justice.
34:19You had Attorney General Pam Bondi, who laid out the charges, painted a picture of a criminal operation that she called, quote, one of the most prolific and violent in the world.
34:28Take a look today. The Justice Department is proud to announce new developments in our ongoing investigation into Ryan James Wedding.
34:38Wedding is the former Olympian from Canada who is now the leader of a transnational criminal enterprise.
34:47He's currently on the FBI's and has been top 10 most wanted list.
34:54He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world.
35:04He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.
35:11Wedding collaborates closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, a foreign terrorist organization, to flood not only American but also Canadian communities
35:23with cocaine coming from Colombia.
35:26His organization is responsible for importing approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine a year into Los Angeles via semi trucks from Mexico.
35:41To put that in perspective, 60 metric tons is approximately 40 the weight of 40 standard cars.
35:51Imagine that. That's how much cocaine the weight of 40 cars he is bringing into our country a year.
36:03In the course of the investigation, more than 35 individuals have been indicted over 2000 kilos and numerous weapons have been seized.
36:12Approximately $3.2 million in cryptocurrency has been recovered and over 13 million in physical assets has been confiscated.
36:24Wedding is also accused of murdering a federal witness after he was indicted in 2024.
36:31He used a Canadian website called the dirty news to post photographs of the witness and his wife in order to locate him, which ultimately succeeded.
36:44The witness was gunned down in a restaurant in Medellin before he could testify against wedding.
36:52And then you had FBI director Cash Patel who stepped to the podium and he made a stunning comparison.
36:59Okay. We talked about this before putting Ryan wedding in a category with the most notorious drug lords in history.
37:05Make no mistake about it. Ryan wedding is a modern day or iteration of Pablo Escobar.
37:11He's a modern day iteration of El Chapo Guzman. This Justice Department and this FBI will work with our Canadian counterparts and the government officials across the world to bring him to justice.
37:24He's responsible for engineering a narco trafficking and narco terrorism program that we have not seen in a long time.
37:31He will not evade justice. We are here today because this Department of Justice behind Attorney General's brilliant leadership and the Deputy Attorney General have made it clear to the American people with the indictments they have brought.
37:43That law enforcement and agencies like this FBI will lead the effort to go out there and make sure these animals are brought to justice. And that's what exactly what we will do.
37:54And finally, the official from the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles where the case is going to be prosecuted sent a direct message to wedding and his entire organization.
38:03Your days are numbered. Our agents and prosecutors will relentlessly pursue you and anyone who assists you and bring you to justice, not just anywhere.
38:14We're going to bring you to justice in the United States of America. And I want to just add a couple of things here.
38:20Mr. Wedding is the most prolific cocaine trafficker in Canada, but he used Southern California, my district as a hub for his logistics to move the cocaine.
38:30The reason he selected California is because of California's weak laws on crime. They knew if they were popped with cocaine in California, they probably wouldn't get much of a sentence.
38:41But they made one big miscalculation. They didn't think about us, the US Department of Justice, Attorney General Bondi and what this administration would do to individuals like him who use the United States to traffic their drugs.
38:54And he will be brought to justice. I'm confident that.
38:58Eric, to hear these statements, what stands out to you?
39:01Clearly, it has been an objective of the Trump administration to go after drug trafficking, certainly to go after international drug trafficking when the source is outside of our country.
39:14You know, you heard from the federal prosecutor a comment about California's drug laws.
39:21So there are some political undertones here that I think are motivating this prosecution.
39:27But that being said, you know, they're allowed to go after drug traffickers. That's their job.
39:33And so it sounds like they are going to do so with zeal and fervor.
39:37And this is going to be something that continues to escalate within the legal system.
39:43And I'll be interested to see how it plays out.
39:45Yeah. And talk to me real quick, because before we get into the indictment, you had the US attorney said that they're going to bring him to justice in the United States.
39:54But if he's being protected abroad, how does a capture like this work exactly?
39:59Is it a negotiated surrender? Is it a raid? Do the foreign authorities get involved?
40:05What exactly are we looking at here?
40:08You know, I don't anticipate Ryan Wedding, you know, waving the white flag and saying, hey, I'm over here. Come get me.
40:15I think what the federal government's going to have to do is they're going to have to work hand in hand with their international counterparts in law enforcement to try and identify where he is and then effectuate an apprehension.
40:28Even if they locate him, like you said, he is likely going to be protected by the communities out there.
40:35And, you know, in America, we think of the FBI going in and doing a raid in some trap house or whatever.
40:42But in other countries, in Mexico, it's not that smooth. It's not that easy.
40:47And it could be exponentially dangerous to try and apprehend him and bring him to this country for prosecution.
40:54And real quick, before I get into the indictment, what is the value of indicting him before arresting him?
41:00You know, I think a number of things. One is that obviously there are pending charges.
41:05It has gone public. And, you know, we're doing this show about it.
41:09So it's increasing public awareness and people are going to start to see these things and then perhaps notice him.
41:15So I think it's going to help potentially in the apprehension.
41:18It also allows them to apprehend other alleged co-conspirators and begin working on their cases, begin trying to flip them as witnesses while they're still trying to find wedding.
41:29So so once they do get him, if they do, they're going to already be in a good position, well postured to move forward with the prosecution at that juncture.
41:38I want to move into the actual indictment with you. So this is a massive document, but there are a few details that really illustrate the alleged scope and brutality of this enterprise.
41:48The indictment again details that one alleged murder order from November of 2023.
41:53It states that wedding and his second in command, quote, issued an order to kill a TP driver, co-conspirator CC1, whom they believe stole 300 kilograms of cocaine from them.
42:04And the document then describes what was essentially the tragic result because on November 20th, 2023, members of that conspiracy broke into a rental property and, quote, shot and killed victims B and C and shot and wounded victim D,
42:18mistakenly believing they were CC1's family members.
42:24Eric, I mean, that's interesting, right, because how does charging wedding for a murder where he allegedly targeted the wrong people?
42:34How does that impact the case per se when you're trying to prove something like this?
42:39Sure. So there's a concept in the law, Jesse, called transferred intent, which essentially means if you intended to kill person A and you were under a mistaken belief and you killed person B, that doesn't, of course, somehow absolve you from murder.
42:55And so the fact that the shooters allegedly got it wrong doesn't somehow insulate any of the co-conspirators, including wedding.
43:04But that being said, they're going to have to prove that these orders came from wedding and that this wasn't just some other sort of, you know, intra-cartel dispute or inter-cartel dispute that resulted in bloodshed, which we see all of the time.
43:17Tying it to wedding is going to be difficult. And, you know, do they have texts? Do they have emails? Probably not.
43:23And now I want to talk about the witness murder, which is the centerpiece of this indictment, this new indictment.
43:28So the document is incredibly specific. It alleges that after his 2024 indictment, Wedding's own lawyer allegedly advised him, and I'm quoting here,
43:38if victim A was killed, the charges against them and related extradition proceedings would necessarily be dismissed.
43:45Okay, now, Eric, to get that advice from anybody, but allegedly from the lawyer? I mean, my gosh, what do you make of that?
43:53You know, there are ethical rules that prohibit attorneys in America from advising a client to engage in criminal wrongdoing.
44:05Now, it sounds like the attorneys sort of tried to choose their words carefully and said, you know, hypothetically, if this person was killed.
44:11But I think we can all sort of read through the lines there.
44:15And in fact, that lawyer styled in some reports as the cocaine lawyer is referenced in the indictment.
44:22And, you know, as an attorney, you cannot be materially involved in some kind of way, even if that's just giving legal advice to criminals on how to commit crimes.
44:35Can't do it.
44:35Yeah. And then the indictment describes the chilling, methodical hunt for this witness.
44:42It claims that Wedding placed a bounty and enlisted help, including from this Canadian website,
44:47and alleges that a co-conspirator paid the site's operator, quote,
44:51approximately $10,000 Canadian dollars, not to post about defendant Wedding and Clark, and instead to post about victim A so that enterprise members and associates could locate and kill victim A.
45:05That's very, very specific here.
45:09Your thoughts on that element of this case.
45:12Yeah, well, like you said, it's sort of an audacious move to do something so public that can be just accessed on the Internet that might be in reference to killing a person.
45:24And, you know, it's sort of putting a public bounty.
45:27You know, we think about in the Old West where it said, you know, you see something on a signpost and it's a piece of paper saying, you know, wanted dead or alive for somebody.
45:35This is essentially that in the criminal context in 2025.
45:40And so, you know, certainly it might show intent.
45:44It might show a conscious objective on behalf of the person initiating all this.
45:49And certainly the person who paid for it was paying for it for a reason.
45:52And now we have this outcome.
45:54And finally, the indictment describes this assassination in stark, in very stark clinical detail,
46:01because on January 31st, 2025, in Medellin, it states, quote,
46:06LNU2 entered the restaurant, approached the table where victim A was eating and shot victim A approximately five times in the head, killing victim A.
46:17And then alleges that immediately after the murder, Wedding himself sent a photograph of the victim's corpse to his associate.
46:24Now, Eric, again, if we're talking about a potential defense here and trying every which way to make sure that he is not connected to that,
46:35this is where it becomes very specific.
46:37And this is where you can see federal authorities maybe are working with local law enforcement to get some of those details.
46:43But this could be a challenge for him, right?
46:46This could be a challenge for him to separate himself from something like this.
46:49Oh, my gosh.
46:52Why have, like, a picture of a dead body on your phone and sending that to people,
46:56especially when the allegation is that you were directly tied to that and ordered that?
47:01It is – and it's kind of a bit of an amateurish misstep, which seems curious,
47:07considering how sophisticated the organization appeared to be otherwise.
47:11And so it's sort of, you know, in our modern era, these digital devices can be a trove of evidence and can be deeply incriminating.
47:21And certainly that allegation, if true, is.
47:24Talk to me realistically, before we wrap things up, what would a trial really look like?
47:28Is everybody tried together?
47:31Is it multiple trials?
47:32I mean, what exactly would we be looking at?
47:35Yeah, you know, I think the federal government and the courts have some options here.
47:41It wouldn't be unusual to sever some of the cases, to sever some of the trials.
47:47You know, we're not going to have a trial where there's dozens of defendants and it's going to take, you know, a year or two years.
47:53Typically, that's not how it works.
47:55What will usually happen is a lot of those defendants will either plead guilty or not be found or, God forbid, die or something like that.
48:02And so things will sort of get whittled down, typically to the leadership of the organization.
48:08And then that is when the case takes center stage and goes to trial.
48:13Can't still involve multiple defendants, but it's not going to be everybody who's referenced within that indictment.
48:18So it's sort of going to crescendo to a head as these legal proceedings progress through the courts.
48:25Eric Faddis, my gosh, thank you so much for coming on.
48:29Really, really appreciate it.
48:30What a case.
48:31Great to be with you.
48:32And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.
48:34Everybody, thank you so much for joining us.
48:36And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts.
48:41You can follow me on X or Instagram.
48:43I'm Jesse Weber.
48:44I'll speak to you next time.
48:45I'll speak to you next time.
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