Industry News
U.S. Department of State offering reward of up to $10 million for capture
Former Olympic snowboarder and Canadian national Ryan Wedding, 43, has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC) of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, announced today during a press conference in Westwood. Law enforcement partners joined ADIC Davis with the United States Department of State, Royal Canadian Mounted Police–Federal Policing, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration–Los Angeles, and the United States Attorney’s Office–Central District of California.
Ryan Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King,” was born in Thunder Bay, Canada, and competed in the Giant Slalom snowboarding competition during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
At present, Wedding is wanted for allegedly running a transnational drug trafficking network that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States, and for orchestrating multiple murders and an attempted murder in furtherance of these drug crimes.
Wedding’s placement on the top ten list marks the 535th addition to the FBI’s list of notorious fugitives. Wedding will replace Alexis Flores who is wanted by FBI Philadelphia. Although Flores is being removed from the list today, he will remain on the FBI’s website on its Most Wanted page.
“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. The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man, and his addition to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, coupled with a major reward offer by the State Department, will make the public our partner so that we can catch up with him before he puts anyone else in danger,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced that it is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and/or conviction. The reward was authorized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP), which supports law enforcement efforts to disrupt transnational crime globally and bring fugitives to justice. This reward offering supplements the FBI’s current offering of $50,000 for information leading to Wedding’s apprehension, arrest, and extradition, and further, is jointly being offered with assistance from the Canadian and Mexican governments as part of a unified effort to bring Wedding to justice.
“The Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ryan James Wedding. We are committed to protecting American communities from thugs who, with clear consciences, deliberately peddle illicit narcotics and prey on our youth,” said Senior Bureau Official F. Cartwright Weiland of the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
In June 2024, Wedding and his second-in-command Andrew Clark, 34, also Canadian, were charged in an indictment out of the Central District of California with running a continuing criminal enterprise; committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes; and conspiring to possess, distribute, and export cocaine. Clark, who was arrested last October by Mexican authorities, was among the 29 fugitives whom Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced had arrived in the United States from Mexico last week.
In September 2024, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a superseding indictment naming 14 additional defendants and including, among other counts, an attempted murder charge against Wedding and Clark. The superseding indictment alleges that Wedding, Clark, and others conspired to ship bulk quantities of cocaine—weighing hundreds of kilograms—from Southern California to Canada through a Canada-based drug transportation network run by Hardeep Ratte, 46, of Ontario, Canada, and Gurpreet Singh, 31, of Ontario, Canada, from approximately January 2024 to August 2024. The cocaine shipments were transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where the cocaine trafficking organization’s operatives stored the cocaine in stash houses, before delivering it to the transportation network couriers for delivery to Canada using long-haul semi-trucks.
“As alleged in the superseding indictment, defendant Ryan Wedding—a former Olympian—led a transnational criminal organization that murdered innocent people and put thousands of kilograms of narcotics on our streets. The reward offered today will help bring this defendant to justice in the United States. We urge anyone with information about Wedding to contact law enforcement and help us get Mr. Wedding into custody,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally.
The superseding indictment also alleges that Wedding and Clark’s organization resorted to violence—including multiple murders—to achieve its aims. Wedding and Clark allegedly directed the November 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California. Another member of that family survived the shooting but was left with serious physical injuries. Wedding and Clark allegedly also ordered the murder of another victim on May 18, 2024, over a drug debt. In addition, Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, a dual Canadian-American citizen, are charged with the April 1, 2024, murder of another victim in Ontario, Canada.
“The RCMP is committed to working with our international partners in the fight against transnational criminals. It’s imperative that Ryan Wedding faces justice for the charges against him. We will continue to stand with and support our US and Mexican partners in this and other investigations to protect the public,” said Liam Price, Director General, Royal Canadian Mounted Police International program.
If convicted, Wedding and Clark would face a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison on their respective continuing criminal enterprise charge. The murder and attempted murder charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. The drug trafficking charges carry mandatory minimum penalties of 10 to 15 years in prison.
“The former Canadian snowboarder unleashed an avalanche of death and destruction, here and abroad. He earned the name ‘El Jefe’, becoming boss of a violent transnational drug trafficking organization. Now, his face will be on ‘The Top 10 Most Wanted’ posters. He’s unremitting, callous and greed-driven. Today’s announcement beams an even brighter searchlight on him. We ask that you help us find him,” said Matthew Allen, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles Field Division.
The FBI urges anyone with information as to Wedding’s whereabouts to contact the FBI via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram at +1-424 495-0614. These are neither government-operated nor government-controlled platforms. Callers may also contact their local FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. Confidentiality will be granted to anyone who calls with information.
Investigators believe that Wedding is residing in Mexico but have not ruled out his presence in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, or elsewhere. Wedding is further described as follows:
Aliases: James Conrad King, Jesse King
DOB: September 14, 1981
Hair: Brown, may wear a beard and/or mustache
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 240 lbs. (may vary)
Nationality: Canadian
Place of Birth: Thunder Bay, Canada
Monikers: “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “El Jefe”
Photographs and reward information about Wedding will be posted on digital billboards in key locations, as well as on fbi.gov, and on the FBI’s social media platforms. Additional information about Wedding and other Top Ten Fugitives is available at this link: Top Ten Fugitives.
The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list was established in March 1950. Since its inception, 535 fugitives have been placed on the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 496 of whom were apprehended or located; 163 were due to citizen cooperation.
