Ryan Wedding, whom the FBI calls the 21st-century Pablo Escobar, is on the run amid ongoing criminal investigations.
Ryan Wedding was once a promising snowboarder who had played for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, in the men’s parallel giant slalom event, where he finished in 24th place.
Now, Wedding is on the FBI’s top ten most wanted fugitives list, but little information is known in public about his life and especially his mysterious wife.
So, here’s every detail you need to know.
The FBI is in search to capture Wedding along with three others, one of whom happens to be his wife, named Miryam Andrea Castillo Moreno, 37.
In multiple media reports, his wife, whose name is Miryam Andrea Castillo Moreno, has alleged ties to Mexican cartels.
Her name has appeared in money laundering and kidnapping cases related to organized crime.
As per the reports, Ryan Wedding’s wife is a British Columbian entrepreneur with Iranian roots.
She tied the knot with Ryan while he was serving his sentence in a Texas prison in 2011.
Many media reports indicate that Ryan and his wife aren’t living together since she distanced herself from the ex-Canadian Olympian.
She once told the Canadian broadcaster CBC that, “I don’t want to be associated with these people.”
But contrary to her claims, the report by the U.S. Treasury Department states that she was instrumental to Ryan Wedding in laundering his black money from smuggling cocaine and also aided him in ‘acts of violence.’
Ryan has been escaping arrest since 2015 and is wanted in connection to multiple drug and conspiracy crimes, in addition to ordering and plotting murder.
His name on the FBI’s top ten most wanted fugitives list has generated buzz on social media, where netizens wonder why a fugitive is still on the run almost a decade later.
The FBI believes Ryan Wedding, a Canadian national, is hiding in Mexico and operates under the shield of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The indictment charges against Wedding include:
On Wednesday, November 18, the U.S. State Department increased the reward for information that led to the capture of Ryan Wedding to $15million US, up from the previous $10million US.
A central allegation is that Wedding is the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada and is accused of smuggling 60 metric tons of cocaine from Mexico to the U.S.
Under the code name of “Op Giant Slalom,” the investigation continues with multiple partners from Canada and Mexico to capture Wedding and dismantle his network.
Wedding could face life imprisonment in federal prison if convicted upon capture.
Ryan Wedding, once an Olympian, is now a modern-day Escobar.
The FBI is on a mission to capture him at all costs, along with his wife, Miryam Andrea Castillo Moreno, who aided Ryan Wedding in establishing the criminal enterprise.