FBI Arrests Former Olympic Athlete Suspected of Using Crypto Assets to Operate Transnational Cocaine Crime Network

Odaily News The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding in Mexico City. U.S. authorities accuse him of running a transnational drug trafficking organization and extensively using cryptocurrencies and stablecoins for drug money settlement 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 reward of up to $15 million.

U.S. prosecutors allege 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. The U.S. Department of the Treasury previously noted that the organization moved funds across multiple blockchains including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and BNB Chain, involving stablecoin payments and exhibiting characteristics of cross-chain money laundering.

In 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Wedding, his associates, and shell companies, and froze multiple sets of cryptocurrency addresses. Prosecutors also accuse him of ordering the murder of an informant and planning multiple violent retaliatory actions related to drug deals. (The Block)