Ryan Wedding
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Ryan James Wedding. Born September 14th, 1981. A Canadian drug trafficker. A former Olympic snowboarder. He represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics, competing in the men's parallel giant slalom. After the games, his path took a sharp turn. He became a transnational drug trafficker. And on March 6th, 2025, he was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Ryan was the eldest of three. His grandparents owned Mount Baldy ski resort. His uncle coached the Canadian women's National Alpine Ski Team. His father, an engineer and former competitive skier, moved the family to Coquitlam, British Columbia, when Ryan was twelve. It was there he began his snowboarding journey.
Wedding won the very first race he entered. By fifteen, he was on the Canadian National Ski Team. He secured a bronze medal at the 1999 Junior World Championship, followed by a silver in 2001. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he competed for Team Canada, finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom. After that, he hung up his competitive board.
Following the 2002 Olympics, Wedding returned to Vancouver and attended Simon Fraser University. He got into bodybuilding and worked as a bouncer. After two years, he dropped out, diving into real estate speculation. His financing? A massive, 6,800-plant marijuana grow operation at a suburban property dubbed "Eighteen Carrot Farms." In 2006, the RCMP raided it, finding a shotgun, ammunition, and an estimated ten million dollars worth of cannabis. Wedding wasn't there, and there wasn't enough evidence to charge him.
His operation grew. He partnered with Iranian and Russian cocaine smugglers. In 2010, he was convicted of attempting to buy cocaine from a U.S. government agent in 2008, serving four years in prison.
On October 17th, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Wedding with "leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians." He faces multiple felonies: drug trafficking, leading a criminal organization, three counts of murder, and one count of attempted murder. He is currently a fugitive. He was one of sixteen individuals charged as part of Operation Giant Slalom, a joint investigation by federal agencies. The murders he's accused of are those of Jagtar Sidhu, 57, his wife Harbhajan Sidhu, 55, and Mohammed Zafar, 39. The Sidhus were killed in November 2023, Zafar in May 2024. Wedding is believed to have ordered these killings alongside Andrew Clark, who is charged in the April 2024 murder of Randy Fader, 29.
Authorities say that since his release, Wedding fled to Mexico, becoming a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's largest drug cartel. He's known there by the nicknames "El Jefe," "Giant," or "Public Enemy." The alleged second-in-command of Wedding's trafficking ring was arrested in Mexico in October 2024. On March 6th, 2025, Wedding was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, replacing Alexis Flores. The FBI is offering a reward of up to ten million United States dollars for his capture.
While incarcerated in 2011, Wedding married a woman from British Columbia. They have since separated, and his ex-wife has remarried.
In March 2025, a television documentary series, "Snow King: From Olympian to Narco," was announced. It's based on a Rolling Stone investigation and is a collaboration between Rolling Stone Films, Dogwoof, Visitor Media, and Corriente del Golfo, co-founded by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna.
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Ryan James Wedding (born 14 September 1981) is a Canadian drug trafficker and former Olympic snowboarder. He represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the men's parallel giant slalom event. After the Olympics, he became a transnational drug trafficker. On 6 March 2025, he was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
== Early life ==
Wedding was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario and was the eldest of three children. His maternal grandparents owned the Mount Baldy ski resort. His uncle was the director of a ski school and coach of the Canadian women's National Alpine Ski Team. His father was an engineer and former competitive skier who, when Ryan was 12, moved his family to the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam, British Columbia, which is where Ryan began his snowboarding career.
== Snowboarding ==
Wedding won the first snowboarding race he entered and, at 15, made the Canadian National Ski Team. He won a bronze medal in the Parallel Giant Slalom at the 1999 Junior World Championship and a silver medal in the 2001 Junior World Championships. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he competed for Team Canada in snowboarding men's parallel giant slalom, where he finished 24th. After this, he gave up competitive snowboarding.
== Criminal conduct ==
After the 2002 Winter Olympics, Wedding moved back to Vancouver and attended Simon Fraser University. He got into body-building and started working as a bouncer. After two years in university, he dropped out and began to speculate in real estate, which he financed by growing marijuana at a 6,800-plant warehouse on a suburban property called Eighteen Carrot Farms. In 2006, the RCMP raided the farm and found a shotgun, ammunition, and $10 million worth of cannabis. Wedding was not on the property at the time and there was not enough evidence to charge him.
He expanded his operation when he joined up with Iranian and Russian cocaine smugglers. In 2010, he was convicted of attempting to buy cocaine from a U.S. government agent in 2008, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison.
On 17 October 2024, Wedding was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with "leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians". He is charged with multiple felonies, including drug trafficking, leading a criminal organization, three counts of murder, and one attempt to commit murder. He is currently a fugitive. He was one of sixteen people to be charged as part of operation Giant Slalom in a joint investigation by several federal agencies. The murders in which Wedding is accused of having carried out were of Jagtar Sidhu, 57, his wife, Harbhajan Sidhu, 55 and Mohammed Zafar, 39. The Sidhus were killed in November 2023, while Zafar was killed in May 2024. Wedding is believed to have ordered the murders alongside Andrew Clark, who has been charged with the April 2024 murder of Randy Fader, 29.
According to authorities, since his release, Wedding fled to Mexico and became a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel (Mexico's largest drug cartel), where he is known by the nicknames "El Jefe", "Giant" or "Public Enemy". The alleged second-in-command of Wedding's trafficking ring was arrested in Mexico in October 2024. On 6 March 2025, Wedding was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, replacing Alexis Flores. The FBI is offering a reward of up to ten million United States dollars for his capture.
== Personal life ==
While incarcerated in 2011, Wedding married a woman from British Columbia. They have since separated and his ex-wife has remarried.
== In media ==
In March 2025, it was announced that a television documentary series titled Snow King: From Olympian to Narco was in production, based on a Rolling Stone investigation. The series is a collaboration between Rolling Stone Films, London-based documentary firm Dogwoof, Toronto's Visitor Media, and Corriente del Golfo, a production company co-founded by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna.
== See also ==
List of professional sportspeople convicted of crimes
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 2020s
== References ==
== External links ==
Ryan Wedding at FIS (snowboarding)
Ryan Wedding at Olympics.com
Ryan Wedding at Team Canada
Ryan Wedding at Olympedia
FBI Most Wanted
Media related to Ryan Wedding at Wikimedia Commons
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