The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of Ryan Wedding for drug trafficking and murder. Wedding is suspected of leading an international drug trade that used cryptocurrency to transfer profits and launder money.
The case further highlights the growing role of digital assets, particularly stablecoin payments, as facilitators of illegal financing.
FBI concludes a decade-long search
According to the FBI, authorities took Wedding, a 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, into custody on Thursday evening. The arrest ended a decade-long search during which he was sought as one of the Justice Department's most wanted criminals.
Wedding reported to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexican authorities revealed.
The arrest was related to Wedding's alleged role in an operation that engaged in international drug trafficking, which operated under one of Mexico's largest criminal organizations. According to authorities, Wedding also used several aliases, such as "El Jefe" and "Public Enemy."
"He is suspected of running and participating in an international drug trafficking operation that transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada – as a member of the Sinaloa cartel," said FBI Director Kash Patel in his social media posts.
In 2024, the FBI announced a reward of $15 million for information leading to his capture.
Two months ago, prosecutor Bill Essayli stated at a press conference that Wedding was also responsible for the murder of a witness in a Colombian restaurant last January. The victim was shot five times in the head.
Authorities emphasized that Wedding's activities relied on cryptocurrencies for money laundering and transferring proceeds across borders.
USDT wallets used in obscuring proceeds
According to the indictment, Wedding's organization concealed a significant portion of the proceeds from the cocaine trade in U.S. and Canadian dollars as well as cryptocurrencies.
According to authorities, the operation utilized a sophisticated Tether-based system for this purpose.
In the arrangement, large sums of money were split into smaller transfers. Funds were transferred through multiple intermediary USDT wallets toward a single centralized Tether wallet, which is alleged to have been controlled by Wedding.
The indictment also revealed that in November 2024, one of the defendants received about 2 million Colombian pesos for facilitating operations. The pesos were allegedly converted from cryptocurrency as payment for approximately 300 kilograms of cocaine.
Wedding's case is just one of several that have emerged recently. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice charged a Venezuelan citizen with using cryptocurrency in a billion-dollar money laundering operation.
At the same time, cryptocurrency crime reached a new record level in 2025.
According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, at least $154 billion was moved to illicit addresses last year, which is 162% more than in 2024.