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A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder has entered a not guilty plea in connection with leading an international drug smuggling operation and being involved in several homicides.

Ryan Wedding appeared in his first U.S. court on Monday following his arrest in Mexico last week and subsequent transfer to California.

A 44-year-old individual, also referred to as “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” had been evading capture in Mexico for over ten years before being taken into custody, as reported by US officials.

He was included in the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list in March last year, when the agency announced a $15 million (€13m) reward for any information that results in his capture and prosecution.

Wedding is accused of transporting approximately 60 tons of cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Canada, and Southern California. U.S. authorities have claimed that he operated under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most influential drug organizations.

He is also charged with orchestrating the killing of a witness in Colombia who intended to provide testimony against him.

Mexican authorities stated that Wedding surrendered at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City last week and was transported to Southern California following a year-long operation involving law enforcement from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic to apprehend him.

His attorney, Anthony Colombo, denied that his client had surrendered in Mexico and stated he was not evading authorities in the country.

He was taken into custody,” Colombo said to journalists on Monday, outside the federal court in Santa Ana, located in the southeast area of Los Angeles. “He did not give himself up.

The wedding was planned to return to court on February 11, with a trial scheduled for March 24. The judge decided to keep him in jail, stating that he could not quickly identify circumstances that would protect the public or ensure the wedding’s presence in court.

Drug and murder charges

The wedding was charged in 2024 with federal offenses including operating a criminal organization, murder, and plotting to distribute cocaine along with other violations.

U.S. officials claim in legal documents that Wedding’s organization acquired cocaine from Colombia and collaborated with Mexican drug cartels to transport narcotics by boat and aircraft to Mexico, and subsequently into the United States via semi-trucks.

The indictment states that the group kept cocaine in Southern California before transporting it to Canada and other U.S. states.

The charges of murder allege that Wedding was responsible for the 2023 deaths of two individuals from a Canadian family as an act of revenge for a stolen drug shipment, and also for orchestrating a killing in 2024 related to a drug-related debt.

Last year, Wedding faced additional charges for planning the murder of a witness in Colombia to prevent his transfer to the United States.

Wedding had a prior conviction in the United States for conspiring to distribute cocaine and was sent to prison in 2010, only to be released the subsequent year.

In Canada, Wedding is dealing with separate drug-related charges from 2015.

Wedding was Canada’s representative at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he placed 24th in the parallel giant slalom competition.