Ex-Olympian Turns Himself In Over Accusations of Running a Crypto Drug Network
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) introduced the arrest of Ryan Wedding on expenses of cocaine trafficking and homicide. Wedding allegedly ran a transnational drug trafficking operation that relied on cryptocurrency to maneuver and launder the proceeds.
The occasion marked the continuation of the more and more related position that digital belongings, and stablecoin funds, specifically, play in facilitating illicit finance.
FBI Ends Decade-Long Manhunt
According to the FBI, authorities took Wedding, a 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, into custody on Thursday evening. The arrest marked a decade-long manhunt of one of the Department of Justice’s most wished fugitives.
Wedding reportedly turned himself in on the United States embassy in Mexico City, revealed Mexican authorities.
The arrest stemmed from Wedding’s alleged position in a transnational drug trafficking operation below the wing of one of Mexico’s biggest criminal organizations. Authorities additionally alleged Wedding operated below a number of pseudonyms, together with “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy.”
“He was allegedly working and collaborating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped a whole bunch of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, by Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada – as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel in a social media put up.
In 2024, the FBI introduced a $15 million reward for data resulting in his seize.
Two months in the past, main prosecutor Bill Essayli unveiled in a press convention that Wedding was additionally accountable for the homicide of a witness who was shot 5 instances within the head in a restaurant in Colombia final January.
Authorities additionally highlighted that Wedding’s operations relied on cryptocurrencies to launder cash and transfer proceeds throughout borders.
USDT Wallets Used to Obscure Proceeds
According to the indictment, Wedding’s enterprise would conceal a vital quantity of the earnings made by cocaine gross sales utilizing US and Canadian {dollars}, in addition to cryptocurrencies.
Authorities argued that the enterprise relied on a subtle Tether-based system to take action.
The scheme concerned splitting massive sums into smaller transactions. These funds had been then routed by a number of middleman USDT wallets earlier than converging in a central Tether pockets allegedly managed by Wedding.
The indictment additionally revealed that in November 2024, one other defendant obtained round 2 million Colombian pesos to advance operations. The pesos had allegedly been transformed from cryptocurrency as cost for roughly 300 kilograms of cocaine.
Wedding’s case is only one of a number of others which have surfaced lately. Earlier this month, the DOJ charged a Venezuelan nationwide for allegedly utilizing crypto in a $1 billion money laundering scheme.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency crime reached an all-time high in 2025.
According to blockchain evaluation agency Chainalysis, illicit addresses received at least $154 billion final 12 months, representing a 162% improve from 2024.
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