U.S. authorities have accused former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding of orchestrating the murder of a key witness prepared to testify against him.
Authorities are already seeking Wedding over his alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.
Charges
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wedding is accused of tracking down a witness in Colombia, who was then murdered before he could give evidence.
Wedding, who is known by aliases including “El Jefe,” allegedly ran a large-scale cocaine network that moved drugs from Colombia through Mexico into the U.S. and Canada.
Ryan Wedding
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Wedding competed in the men’s giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He finished 24th in the event.
In 2006, he was named in a search warrant for a cannabis-growing investigation in the Canadian province of British Columbia but was not charged.
In 2010, he was convicted of drug trafficking and jailed after attempting to buy cocaine from a U.S. Government agent.
At the time, he tried to have the charges dismissed and alleged U.S. authorities used a “violent former [Russian] agent” as an undercover operative.
FBI director Kash Patel called him a “modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar”.
The reward for Wedding’s capture is $US15 million.
