A surveillance photo of Ryan Wedding provided by the FBI. Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder, was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for running a murderous international drug trafficking operation.

Former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, 43, is on the run from the FBI. During a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 19, the FBI announced he'd been added to the organization's Ten Most Wanted list.

Wedding competed for Team Canada in the giant slalom snowboarding event during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. A native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wedding has become known as a drug kingpin with aliases you'd expect to see in a movie, like "El Jefe," "Jesse King," and "Public Enemy" among others.

He is wanted for running an international drug trafficking network that routinely ships hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, into the United States and Canada. He also has allegedly orchestrated several murders and is wanted for an additional attempted murder in efforts to further his drug-related crimes.

"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 Assistant Director of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office Akil Davis. "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."

Has anyone associated with Wedding been arrested?

Wedding's second-in-command, Andrew Clark, 34, was arrested in October 2024 by Mexican authorities. According to Attorney General Pamela Bondi, he was one of 29 fugitives who arrived to the United States from Mexico a week ago.

Both Wedding and Clark were responsible for the drug trafficking through Southern California and have been linked to the murders of two people in Ontario, Canada, on Nov. 20, 2023, in retaliation to a stolen drug shipment. The pair also allegedly ordered the murder of another victim in May 2024 over a debt.

What punishment is Wedding facing?

Should Wedding be arrested and convicted, he would face the minimum penalty of life in prison on his criminal enterprise charge. The murder and attempted murder charges carry a minimum of 20 years in prison, while the drug trafficking charges would net him a minimum of 10-15 years.

Is there a reward for information on Wedding?

The Department of State is offering up to $10 million for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of Wedding. The FBI is offering an additional $50,000 for any information leading to Wedding's apprehension, arrest and extradition as well.

How did Wedding perform at the 2002 Winter Olympics?

Wedding finished 24th at the 2002 Olympics in the men's giant slalom. He gave up competitive snowboarding after the competition.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Ryan Wedding? Former Olympian becomes fugitive, wanted by FBI

Reporting by Jon Hoefling, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect