LOS ANGELES, CA – Federal authorities announced Wednesday that ten people have been arrested in connection with a criminal enterprise headed by a former Olympic snowboarder who ordered the murder of a federal witness in Colombia earlier this year.
Ryan James Wedding, 44, who competed for Canada in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, has been charged in a nine-count federal grand jury indictment with orchestrating the murder of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, who was shot and killed in a MedellÃn, Colombia restaurant on January 31, 2025.
Acebedo-Garcia was a witness in a separate 2024 federal narcotics case against Wedding. Federal prosecutors say Wedding placed a bounty on the victim and ordered his death to “eliminate threats and advance his enterprise’s interests,” according to the Department of Justice.
“Wedding issued orders to murder various individuals, including an order to kill this victim,” DOJ officials stated in court documents. “Wedding placed a bounty on the victim and enlisted the services of others to locate and kill the victim.”
Wedding finished 24th in his Olympic event but has since become one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives. He was added to the list in March 2025, with a $15 million reward offered for information leading to his arrest and prosecution.
The latest arrests were part of “Operation Giant Slalom,” the second phase of a federal investigation targeting Wedding’s drug trafficking organization, which authorities say works closely with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Among those arrested this week is Ashwyn Chirayath Paradkar, a criminal defense attorney who allegedly advised Wedding to murder the witness to avoid extradition from Mexico to the United States. Paradkar also provided Wedding with court documents and confidential information, according to prosecutors.
Gursewak Singh Bal, who co-founded a website called The Dirty News, was paid to not post about Wedding and instead posted a photo of the victim so conspirators could locate and kill him, investigators said. Law enforcement has since seized and shut down the website.
Also arrested was Edwin Basora-Hernandez, identified as a reggaeton musician and citizen of the Dominican Republic, who allegedly provided the victim’s contact information to help Wedding’s associates carry out the murder.
Immigration action is being taken against several associates of Wedding’s operation, including Latin pop artist Samantha Melissa Granda-Gastelu, 38, a Canadian national living in Aventura, Florida. Her husband, Nahim Jorge Bonilla, 37, has been indicted on separate murder conspiracy and drug trafficking charges and is currently in federal custody.
A 2024 indictment charged Wedding and 15 others with running a continuing criminal enterprise and directing the murders of two members of an Ontario, Canada family in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California. A third family member survived with serious injuries.
Wedding remains a fugitive and is believed to be hiding in Mexico. Three other defendants also remain at large.
“Ryan Wedding controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world and works closely with the Sinaloa Cartel,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We will not rest until his name is taken off the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List, and his narco-trafficking organization lies dismantled.”
If convicted, Wedding and the defendants charged in connection with Acebedo-Garcia’s murder face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
