NEW: DOJ indicts former Olympic snowboarder on drug trafficking, witness intimidation charges, reward for capture raised to $15 million

The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced new charges against Canadian former Olympian Ryan Wedding. Wedding has been charged with two new counts of witness tampering, intimidation, murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking in connection with the murder of a federal witness who was set to testify in his case. Wedding represented Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in the men’s snowboarding parallel giant slalom.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Wedding has been accused of murdering a federal witness after Wedding was indicted in 2024 using a Canadian website called "The Dirty News."

Wedding allegedly used the website "to post photographs of the witness and his wife in order to locate him, which ultimately succeeded. The witness was gunned down in a restaurant in Medellin, before he could testify against Wedding." Bondi said, "Protecting federal witnesses from retaliation is core to the department’s mission. It’s about individual safety, but more, it’s about protecting the rule of law itself."

Bondi announced that the reward for information leading to the arrest of Wedding, who has been on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list, has been raised from $10 million to $15 million. Rewards of $2 million are also being offered for information leading to the arrest of those involved in the witness’s murder. 

"Whether you are a street-level drug dealer, a common street-level drug dealer, or an international drug kingpin, we are coming for you. We will find you, and you will be accountable and held to justice for your crimes."

Bondi said that Wedding "controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world. He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada. Wedding collaborates closely with the Sinaloa Cartel, a foreign terrorist organization." She said that Wedding’s organization is allegedly responsible for "importing approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine a year into Los Angeles via semi trucks from Mexico, with that weight being the equivalent of roughly 40 standard cars. 

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced on Wednesday that it has sanctioned Wedding, as well as nine individuals and nine entities close to him. "He is an extremely violent criminal believed to be responsible for the murder of numerous people abroad, including U.S. citizens.  Wedding remains a fugitive from justice, currently hiding in Mexico, where he continues to direct drug trafficking, murder, and other serious criminal activities," the department said in a press release.