Two never-before-seen photos of ex-snowboarder Ryan Wedding released by the U.S.

The U.S. authorities released two photos of former Canadian Olympian Ryan Wedding, alleged to be the leader of a violent narco cartel on Monday.

The FBI, which has ranked the Thunder Bay, Ont. native among its Top Ten Fugitives, posted on X what it called “a new obtained photograph” of him lying in bed shirtless, a large lion tattoo visible on his chest.

Wedding is sporting a scruffy beard with his short, cropped hair revealing a receding hairline.

It’s unclear whether the image was a selfie or snapped by another person, but the agency said it believes it was taken this summer in Mexico, where they believe Wedding has been hiding.

Meanwhile, a video posted to X by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico featured another image of Wedding with a shaved head and wearing a green t-shirt while standing against a neutral gray background, similar to a passport or driver’s license photo.

The 44-year-old former snowboarder who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City is suspected of running a transnational drug-trafficking network shipping cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico — under the alleged protection of the Sinaloa Cartel — and into the U.S. and Canada. Wedding, whose 18 known aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy, was indicted last June.

In November, the FBI increased its reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest to US$15 million from the $10 million first announced when he was added to the Top Ten list in March.

Another Canadian, 34-year-old Andrew Clark of Toronto, suspected to be Wedding’s second in command in Mexico, was indicted at the same time and arrested by Mexican authorities in October. Known as “The Dictator,” he was later extradited to the U.S., where he remains in custody.

The pair are also accused of carrying out several murders and one attempted murder to protect their criminal organization. Canadian police have said several of the people gunned down were victims of mistaken identity.

Among them were husband and wife Jagtar and Harbhajan Sidhu of Caledon, northwest of Toronto, whom U.S. court documents alleged were innocent people erroneously killed in retaliation for the theft of a drug shipment.

Their 13-year-old daughter was also shot 13 times but survived.

U.S. authorities also accuse the duo of ordering the murder of 39-year-old Mohammed Zafar, who was shot while seated in his car in the driveway of a Brampton home in May 2024, allegedly over a drug debt.

An indictment unsealed this November included the names of seven other Canadians implicated in Wedding’s illicit activities, among them Ontario lawyer Deepak Paradkar.

The dual Canadian-Indian is accused of advising Wedding and Clark to order the murder of a witness set to testify against him and force his extradition to the U.S.

“Wedding placed a bounty on the victim’s head in the erroneous belief that the victim’s death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him and his international drug trafficking ring and would further ensure that he was not extradited to the United States,” Bilal A. Essayli, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said at a press conference. “He was wrong.”

Also named by U.S. officials was 31-year-old Gursewak Singh Bal of Mississauga, founder and operator of the Dirty News website. It’s alleged that another Canadian member and associate of Wedding’s organization paid Bal $10,000 not to post about Wedding and Clark but to post the witness’s photo instead so he could be located. It’s unclear whether the sum was in American or Canadian dollars.

Other Canadians named in the indictment and since arrested along with Paradkar and Bal include Atna Ohna, 40, of Laval, Que., also known as “Tupac” and “Kim Jong Un”; Allistair Chapman, 33, of Calgary, also known as “Ali Star”; Ahmad Nabil Zitoun, 35, of Edmonton; Edwin Basora-Hernandez, 31, of Montreal; and Rolan Sokolovski, 37, of Toronto, also known as “The Jew” and “Sushi.”

Two additional Canadians with ties to Wedding’s organization being sought by U.S. authorities are Rasheed Pascua Hossain, 32, of Vancouver, also known as “Sheed,” and Tommy Demorizi, 35, of Montreal, who is believed to be a fugitive in the Dominican Republic.

All of those arrested in Canada on allegations in the U.S. face extradition hearings to determine if they will be turned over to U.S. authorities to face trial.

— With files from Adrian Humphreys

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