The US Department of Justice has accused Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder, of leading a sprawling international drug cartel and orchestrating the murder of a federal witness. Wedding, 44, allegedly released the witness’s image to a fake news website, The Dirty Newz, in October 2024, leading to the individual’s fatal shooting in Medellin, Colombia, in January. The FBI has since removed the website and increased the reward for Wedding’s capture from $10 million to $15 million, likening him to the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. FBI Director Kash Patel described Wedding’s operations as a ‘narco trafficking and narco terrorism programme’ unprecedented in recent history. Authorities believe Wedding is currently under the protection of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. In addition to the witness’s murder, Wedding faces charges of witness tampering, intimidation, money laundering, and drug trafficking. Recent developments in the case include a new indictment and the arrest of 10 individuals allegedly linked to his cartel, which is accused of being the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, generating over $1 billion annually. Among those arrested is Deepak Balwant Paradkar, a Canadian lawyer accused of providing illegal services to Wedding’s organization, including advising on the witness’s murder to avoid extradition. The alleged co-founder of The Dirty Newz, Gursewak Singh Bal, was also detained, alongside Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez, a Colombian national accused of running a high-end prostitution ring in Mexico, and Atna Ohna, who allegedly hired a hitman for the cartel. Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, reportedly launched his criminal enterprise after being released from a US federal prison in 2011, where he was serving a sentence for cocaine distribution. The FBI alleges he has ordered dozens of murders globally, including in the US, Canada, and Latin America.