Olympic snowboarder,15 others accused of drug trafficking operation, 4 murders
Sixteen people, including a former Olympic snowboarder from Canada, have been charged in a drug trafficking operation that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Southern California to parts of the U.S and Canada. The leaders also are accused of orchestrating multiple murders.
Ryan James Wedding, 43, who represented Canada at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and Andrew Clark, 34, also a Canadian citizen, are charged with international cocaine trafficking and murder. The two were living in Mexico, where Clark was arrested on Oct. 8. Wedding is a fugitive.
On Oct. 17, a superseding indictment naming an additional 14 co-defendants was released. The indictment alleges that Wedding, Clark and others facilitated the shipment of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Southern California to Canada, using a drug transportation network run by Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30 of Ontario, Canada from January to August 2024. The drugs were shipped from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where they would be stored in stash houses before being transported up north by long-haul semi-trucks.
In a news conference the same day, authorities said the operation had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The indictment also alleges that the organization resorted to multiple murders. Wedding and Clark are accused of ordering the Nov. 20, 2023 murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. They are also accused of ordering the murder of another victim on May 18 for a drug debt. Clark and another defendant and Canadian resident, Malik Damon Cunningham, 23, are charged with the Apr. 1 murder of yet another victim in Ontario, Canada.
Wedding, who is also known by his aliases “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy” is charged with eight felonies: two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to export cocaine, one count of leading a continuing criminal enterprise, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime, and one count of attempt to commit murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime. Clark, also known as “The Dictator,” is facing the same charges, as well as an additional count of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime.
During the investigation, nicknamed “Operation Giant Slalom,” a reference to the Olympic event Wedding competed in, law enforcement agencies seized over one ton of cocaine, three firearms, dozens of rounds of ammunition, $255,400 in United States currency, and more than $3.2 million in cryptocurrency.
According to the superseding indictment, several defendants possessed an estimated 1,800 kilograms, or 1.8 metric tons, of cocaine, which was said to carry a street value between $23.4 million and $25.2 million in Los Angeles.
Several of the defendants arrested are expected to make their court appearances within the coming week in Los Angeles, Michigan, and Miami.
“While key members of Wedding’s criminal enterprise were successfully apprehended this week, he remains at large,” said Aki Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for any information leading to his arrest.”