A former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who is wanted by authorities for running a multi-national drug trafficking network is facing additional charges in connection with the killing of a federal witness, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Wednesday.
Ryan Wedding was prosecuted nearly 16 years ago in San Diego for conspiracy to possess and distribute 24 kilos of cocaine.
Ten other defendants have been arrested on charges in the federal indictment unsealed in California that accuses Ryan Wedding of orchestrating the January killing of the witness in Colombia to help Wedding avoid extradition to the U.S.
Authorities are now offering up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of Wedding, who’s on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. He’s believed to be living in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel, whom authorities say he’s working with closely to funnel massive quantities of drugs into Canada and the U.S.
“Whether you are a street-level drug dealer … or an international drug kingpin, we are coming for you,” Bondi told reporters. “We will find you and you will be accountable and held to justice for your crimes.”
Wedding — whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy” and “James Conrad King” — was charged in 2024 with running a drug ring that moves some 60 tons of cocaine a year using long-haul semi trucks to bring the drugs between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California and Canada.
Authorities say Wedding and his co-conspirators used a Canadian website called “the Dirty News” to post a photograph of the witness so he could be identified and killed. The witness was then followed to a restaurant in Medellín in January and shot in the head.
“Wedding placed the bounty on the victim’s head in the erroneous belief that the victim’s death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him and his international drug trafficking ring, and would further ensure that he was not extradited to the United States,” said Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California. “He was wrong.”
The U.S. government is also offering rewards of up to $2 million for others involved in the killing of the witness.
Wedding’s San Diego Connection
The case in San Diego dates back to 2008, culminating with the arrest of Wedding and two co-conspirators on June 13 of that year.
According to prosecutors, Wedding, Michael Krapchan and Hassan Shirani were all involved in the case, which the FBI connected to the Akhundov DTO, a drug-trafficking organization based in Vancouver, Canada, that law enforcement said was led by Elmar Akhundov.
Court documents sworn to by FBI special agent Brett Kalina state that Akhundov and Krapchan were involved in negotiations with a confidential source (CS) via phone calls and in person in San Diego, Seattle and elsewhere. The pair agreed to do a drug deal in San Diego on June 9, 2008, for 24 kilos of cocaine, where the CS eventually met up with Wedding, Krapchan and Shirani, who told the CS that the bulk of the buy money was not in San Diego, but, rather, at LAX.
During negotiations in San Diego, according to court docs, Wedding told the CS that it was the conspirators’ intent to “grab one” kilo and “have a look at it … and grab the rest of them later.”
“Ultimately, the parties agreed to conduct the exchange on June 13, 2008” in San Diego, after the co-conspirators could inspect the drugs.
Kalisa said in court docs that the three co-conspirators were seen arriving on that date at the San Diego Hampton Inn Hotel, after which Krapchan left for a second location, where he paid $17,000 for a kilo of cocaine. Agents said they arrested him after he was witnessed calling Wedding and Shirani to let them know he had made the buy. The pair were then taken into custody when they left the Hampton Inn.
After their arrest, law enforcement said they searched their car and found a hotel key for a Comfort inn in Woodland Hills, where investigators seized about $100,000 hidden in a piece of furniture.
According to another court document, Wedding was found guilty on May 28, 2010, and sentenced to four years in federal prison.
Last year, an official with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons told NBC 7 that Wedding had served a little over a quarter of his sentence before he was released.
“Ryan Wedding was designated to CI Reeves, a private facility, on Oct. 1, 2010, and remained there until his Good Conduct Time release on Dec. 7, 2011,” emailed Emily Nelson, a public affairs officer for the BOP. “Where Mr. Wedding went after his release from the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons is not available to this office.”
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