U.S. offers $10M reward for arrest of ex-Olympic snowboarder

LOS ANGELES — There’s a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who is wanted for allegedly running a multinational drug trafficking network and orchestrating multiple murders related to the drug ring.

The FBI added 43-year-old Ryan Wedding to its 10 Most Wanted list Thursday, while also announcing the U.S. State Department’s $10 million offer.

«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. «The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man.»

Among his aliases, according to the FBI, are «El Jefe,» «Public Enemy» and «James Conrad King.»

Wedding was charged in June with murder and drug crimes. Those charges were augmented in September in an indictment that alleged Wedding and others arranged the shipment of some 60 tons of cocaine a year using long-haul semitrucks to move the drugs between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California and Canada.

In announcing the indictment in October, the FBI said a dozen people had been arrested in connection with the case.

U.S. authorities allege the group killed two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment in what officials there said was a case of mistaken identity, as well as two other people, according to officials and federal court filings.

Wedding finished 24th in parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Olympics.