Odaily Planet News: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding in Mexico City. U.S. authorities accuse him of operating a transnational drug criminal organization and using a large amount of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins for drug-related transactions and money laundering.
FBI Director Kash Patel stated that Wedding will be extradited to the United States to face multiple charges, including cocaine trafficking and murder. Wedding has been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 2025, with a maximum reward of up to $15 million.
U.S. prosecutors stated that the criminal network, in collaboration with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and California to the United States and Canada. Previously, the U.S. Department of the Treasury noted that the organization conducted fund transfers across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and BNB Chain, involving stablecoin payments, and exhibited multi-chain money laundering characteristics.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Wedding and associated individuals and shell companies, freezing multiple sets of cryptocurrency addresses. Prosecutors also charged him with orchestrating the murder of an informant and planning multiple acts of violent retaliation related to drug trafficking. (The Block)