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A former Olympic snowboarder, Ryan Wedding, who is now allegedly running a drug cartel, orchestrated the killing of a federal witness, the US Justice Department announced.
Authorities raised the reward for information leading to the arrest of Wedding from $10 million to $15 million, calling him a modern-day Pablo Escobar, referring to the Colombian drug lord.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the Canadian snowboarder was "responsible for engineering a narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism programme that we have not seen in a long time".
The US officials said they believe the Canadian, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, is living in Mexico under the Sinaloa drug cartel's protection.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged that Wedding was behind the murder of a federal witness in a case against him.
He allegedly placed a bounty by paying C$10,000 ($7,000) to have photos of the witness and his wife posted to a Canada-based website, The Dirty Newz, in October 2024 to help locate him. The website has since been removed by the FBI.
The witness was shot and killed in a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia, in January.
Bondi said Wedding had also been charged with witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking.
The FBI is still seeking unknown suspects directly involved in the murder, including the killer and someone who helped them escape.
At a news conference on Wednesday, US and Canadian law enforcement officials announced the latest update on the Wedding case, including a new indictment and 10 arrests.
Officials said his organisation operated across North America and other countries and was the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada. It is estimated the cartel brings in more than $1 billion a year.
Wedding competed in giant slalom snowboarding for Canada during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Officials allege the former Olympian launched his criminal enterprise following his release from a US federal prison in 2011, where he was serving a sentence for cocaine distribution.
The FBI alleges that he has ordered dozens of murders across the globe, including in the US, Canada and Latin America.
