Federal officials unveiled extra charges on Wednesday against a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who has been needed for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring.
The new charges against Ryan James Wedding embrace homicide, witness tampering, cash laundering and drug trafficking, Attorney General Pam Bondi mentioned at information convention.
The homicide cost, Bondi mentioned, stemmed from Wedding’s alleged involvement in the slaying of a federal witness in Colombia who was concerned in the authorities’s case against him.
“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,” she mentioned.
Authorities have been looking for more than a yr to search out Wedding, who’s now on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring. Bondi mentioned on Wednesday the State Department had additionally raised its reward for info that might result in his arrest from $10 million to $15 million.
Wedding was initially charged in 2024 charged with a number of crimes together with conspiring to distribute cocaine and homicide.
According to US authorities, Wedding’s group shipped huge quantities of cocaine from Colombia, by means of Mexico and into the US and Canada. The group has killed 4 individuals, authorities say, together with two members of a household in Canada who had been mistakenly recognized and focused in retaliation for a stolen drug cargo.
Wedding can also be going through drug trafficking charges in Canada. He is believed to be in Mexico, authorities have mentioned.
At least a dozen other people have been arrested in the US, Mexico, Columbia and Canada in connection to the case.