Investigate Live with Chainalysis: Inside Ryan Wedding’s Billion-Dollar Cocaine Empire

Once an Olympian-caliber snowboarder, Ryan Wedding is now alleged to be one of the most significant cocaine traffickers operating across Colombia, Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

According to an unsealed U.S. Department of Justice indictment, investigators believe Wedding led a billion-dollar drug trafficking organization, laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through cash, cryptocurrency, and luxury assets. As law enforcement pressure mounted – shipments seized, couriers arrested, and a long-time associate turned informant – the enterprise reportedly escalated to extreme violence to protect the operation.

In this Investigate Live with Chainalysis webinar, our investigations team picks up the story where the money trail moves on-chain, examining wallet addresses cited in the indictment and demonstrating how blockchain intelligence was used to uncover laundering patterns tied to large-scale narcotics trafficking.