The search for Ryan James Wedding — a former Olympic snowboarder now on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List for allegedly running an international cocaine-trafficking network — continues to intensify as authorities release new photos of him.
“Make no mistake about it: Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He’s a modern-day iteration of ‘El Chapo’ Guzman,” FBI Director Kash Patel said during a November press conference.
On Monday, Dec. 8, the FBI’s Los Angeles field office shared a newly obtained photo of Wedding, 44, on X, which is believed to have been taken in Mexico over the summer. In the image, he appears shirtless in bed, revealing part of a large tattoo on his chest and wearing a beard and mustache.
Another photo, released by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico on X, shows Wedding with a buzzcut and scruffy facial hair, standing in front of a gray wall and wearing a green shirt. Officials have not specified when that second image was taken.
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According to the FBI Los Angeles office, Wedding is wanted for “allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada, and other locations in the United States.”
“Additionally, it is alleged that Wedding was involved in orchestrating multiple murders in furtherance of these drug crimes,” the bureau added.
A nine-count federal indictment announced in November by the U.S. Department of Justice accuses Wedding of ordering the murder of a federal witness who was shot five times in the head earlier this year before he could testify against Wedding.
The FBI said in a November press release that it believes Wedding is living in Mexico and working with the Sinaloa Cartel to send Colombian cocaine into communities across the United States and Canada, under the cartel’s protection.
During a Nov. 19 press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., officials from both the U.S. and Canada described Wedding as a high-level narco-trafficker comparable to notorious drug lords Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Pablo Escobar.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wedding’s operation generated more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds, calling it “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations in this world.”
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The U.S. Department of State’s Narcotics Rewards Program is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and/or conviction.
