Albertans among 10 arrested over alleged ties to former Olympic snowboarder and alleged drug trafficking kingpin

Two Albertans are among those arrested with alleged ties to Ryan Wedding, a one-time Canadian Olympic snowboarder now on the FBI's most-wanted list.

Two Alberta men have been arrested by the RCMP over their alleged connection to former Olympic snowboarder and alleged drug trafficking kingpin Ryan James Wedding.

Allistair Chapman, 33, was arrested Tuesday after a new indictment was unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice that announced 10 suspects including Chapman as part of Operation Giant Slalom.

Seven of the 10 arrested are Canadian and RCMP are looking for an eighth.

Charges laid Wednesday include drug trafficking, murder and witness tampering.

In the unsealed indictment, Chapman is accused of paying a Canadian gang news website $10,000 to not post about Wedding but rather a witness so they could be located.

The witness, described as a snitch, planned to testify against Wedding and was later killed.

None of these allegations have been tested in court.

“Defendant CHAPMAN, a Canadian citizen and resident, was a member and associate of the Wedding Criminal Enterprise. Defendant CHAPMAN paid defendant BAL, the operator of a Canadian urban news outlet (the Dirty News), not to post about defendant WEDDING and Clark. In addition, defendant CHAPMAN provided defendant BAL with a photograph of Victim A and paid him to post the photograph so that Victim A could be located and killed,” the documents state, in part.

“In October 2024, defendant CHAPMAN paid defendant BAL approximately $10,000 CAD not to post about defendant WEDDING and Clark and instead to post about Victim A so that enterprise members and associates could locate and kill Victim A,” they continue.

“On November 5, 2024, via Instagram, defendant BAL posted a story depicting a photograph of Victim A and his significant other accompanied by screenshots of text messages from defendant CHAPMAN that called Victim A ‘a snitch’ and sought Victim A’s location for the purpose of killing Victim A.”

Chapman is a former junior hockey player who previously faced numerous charges in Alberta in 2018, including conspiracy, trafficking and possession of drugs.

Those charges against Chapman were stayed, however, due to long court delays.

Chapman’s lawyer Chad Haggerty confirmed he appeared in court Wednesday, but would not comment on the case.

He will be back in court on Friday.

Edmonton resident Ahmad Nabil Zitoun, 35, was also arrested.

Wedding is described by justice officials as extremely dangerous, violent and wealthy.

The Department of Justice plans to extradite the Canadians arrested to the U.S. to stand trial.

“All of them are currently locked up awaiting the extradition process,” said RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme, “so they will have a fair process in front of a judge.”

Wedding has been linked to four murders in Ontario. He goes by several aliases such as “Giant” and “Public Enemy.”

The FBI believe he’s being protected by the Sinaloa cartel and is living in Mexico.

“You do not get to be a drug kingpin and evade the law,” said FBI director Kash Patel on Wednesday. “Make no mistake about it. Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He’s a modern-day iteration of (Joaquin) “El Chapo” Guzman.

“This (U.S.) Justice Department and this FBI will work with our Canadian counterparts and government officials across the world to bring him to justice.”

The reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest has increased from US$10 million to US$15 million -- or about $21 million Canadian.

Wedding remains on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.