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DOJ Unseals Expanded Indictment of Fugitive Ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding as Reward Rises to $15 Million

A coordinated push uses arrests, sanctions and a boosted bounty to dismantle the alleged cartel-backed network.

Overview

  • U.S. prosecutors unsealed new charges alleging murder, witness tampering, money laundering and drug trafficking, tying Wedding to the January 2025 killing of a cooperating witness in Medellín.
  • Authorities said “Operation Giant Slalom” led to multiple arrests in Canada, including lawyer Deepak Balwant Paradkar, as the U.S. seeks extraditions; Montreal resident Atna Onha was provisionally arrested at Washington’s request.
  • The State Department increased the reward for information leading to Wedding’s capture to $15 million, and separate rewards of up to $2 million were offered for information on those involved in the Medellín murder.
  • Treasury’s OFAC imposed sanctions on Wedding and associates to cut off access to the U.S. financial system, while investigators reported recovering roughly $3.2 million in cryptocurrency and more than $13 million in physical assets.
  • Wedding remains on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and is believed by officials to be in Mexico under Sinaloa cartel protection, as investigators detail a network moving about 60 metric tons of cocaine annually and the use of a website, The Dirty News, to help target the slain witness.