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Olympic snowboarder accused of becoming drug cartel boss to plead not guilty, lawyer says

Ryan Wedding faces charges of leading a billion-dollar multinational cocaine ring and multiple murders while protected by the Sinaloa Cartel, U.S. prosecutors said.

  • On Monday, Ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding pleaded not guilty to 17 felony charges alleging he operated a Mexican drug cartel in federal court in Santa Ana.
  • Authorities say the case stems from allegations that Ryan Wedding ran a transnational drug trafficking operation tied to the Sinaloa Cartel and was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list last year after living in Mexico City for up to a decade.
  • Court filings further allege Wedding ordered a `multimillion-dollar bounty` on a federal witness in a 2024 narcotics case, and federal prosecutors say his network shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico into the U.S. and Canada.
  • The DOJ says he will remain in U.S. custody without bond and return to court for a status conference on Monday and a jury trial on Monday.
  • His capture followed a U.S. increase in the reward to $15,000,000, and FBI Director Kash Patel has not confirmed whether an individual seeking reward helped.
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Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding, one of the priority targets he had lived in hiding until last week in Mexico, pleaded not guilty this Monday at his first hearing after turning himself in to the authorities three days ago. Wedding, an Olympic ex-athlete, is accused by the U.S. authorities of 17 crimes, including cocaine trafficking, money laundering and murder. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) considered his capture as a priority tar…

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Canadian ex-athlete Ryan Wedding pleaded not guilty to the crimes of drug trafficking and murder before a U.S. court on Monday, January 26, 2026. Ryan Wedding appeared before the Santa Anna court in California, United States, after his arrest on January 23 in Mexico City.Ryan Wedding pleads not guilty before the U.S. courtBefore a federal judge, Ryan Wedding pleaded not guilty to murder and drug trafficking. In this last crime, he denied in the …

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NBC San Diego broke the news in San Diego, United States on Monday, January 26, 2026.
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