The Mexican government is collaborating with the U.S. Treasury Department in a financial crackdown targeting alleged drug trafficker Ryan James Wedding. A former Canadian Olympic athlete, Wedding is one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and is thought to be hiding in Mexico.
Labeled an “extremely violent criminal,” Wedding is wanted for his alleged involvement in an international drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder network targeting federal witnesses.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said a newly unsealed indictment accuses former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding of tracking down and posting photos on a Canadian website called “The Dirty News” of a witness… to facilitate his murder in Medellin Colombia before… pic.twitter.com/uCVupafqO7
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) November 19, 2025
The 44-year-old former Olympic snowboarder was sanctioned by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday, alongside nine individuals and nine entities closely associated with him.
At the same time, the U.S. Justice Department announced the arrest of 10 people connected to the case, pursuant to a nine-count federal grand jury indictment.
“Ryan Wedding controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world and works closely with the Sinaloa Cartel,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We will not rest until his name is taken off the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List.”
Additionally, the U.S. raised the reward for Wedding’s capture to US $15 million, with other rewards offered for information leading to the arrests of unknown assassins who murdered a potential witness last January in Medellín, Colombia.
Authorities insist Wedding has issued orders to kill various individuals, including the 2023 murders of two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.
The former Olympian spent three years in U.S. prisons on cocaine possession charges and was later arrested in Canada on cocaine trafficking charges in 2015, but managed to flee to Mexico.
Since then, he has become “a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar,” according to U.S. officials.
“Ryan Wedding and his associates allegedly imported tons of cocaine each year from Colombia through Mexico, and then distributed it on the streets of U.S. communities,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of Mexico’s Finance Ministry said reports indicate Wedding operates in Canada, the United States, Colombia, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Ryan Wedding was an Olympic snowboarder and represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He’s now a transnational drug trafficker for Mexico’s largest drug cartel and he’s on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list pic.twitter.com/grRAU3DhjL
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) October 19, 2025
“The existence of linked companies, international transfers, asset movements and possible operational links associated with transnational illicit activities has been detected,” the UIF said in a statement.
According to documentation from the OFAC, the investigation revealed the triangulation of funds through shell companies and the coordinated use of corporate structures both in Mexico and abroad to facilitate the movement, concealment, and management of assets.
Among the nine Wedding associates sanctioned are his wife Miryam Andrea Castillo, Édgar Aarón Vázquez and Carmen Yelinet Valoyes.
Castillo was born in the state of Nuevo León and is alleged to be involved in money-laundering operations. Vázquez, believed to be a former Mexican law enforcement officer with ties to senior Mexican law enforcement officials, allegedly provides protection for Wedding within Mexico.
Yaloyes, a Colombian national who reportedly runs a high-end prostitution ring in Mexico, allegedly assisted Wedding with the murder of the witness in Medellín.
Three of the nine companies sanctioned — México VRG Energéticos, Grupo RVG Combustibles and Grupo Ares Imperial — are based in Mexico.
With reports from La Jornada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ESPN and the BBC
