Authorities: Ex-Olympian Became ‘El Chapo’—Laundering Millions via Five Blockchains

Puntos claves de la noticia:

• Former Olympian indicted for leading international narcotrafficking network.
• OFAC sanctions 12 crypto addresses linked to the criminal group.
• FBI compares defendant to notorious cartel leaders like El Chapo.

The U.S. Treasury Departmentindicted Ryan James Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic slalom snowboarder, on Wednesday for running a large narcotrafficking networkwith international reach. Federal agents also arrested 10 other defendantsunder Operation Giant Slalom, which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi described as one of the “most violent and prolific” drug trafficking groups active today.

The FBIreported that the organization moved cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, while laundering proceeds across five different blockchain networks. Investigators also identified luxury goodsand front companiesas tools for disguising the financial trail.

Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, compared Wedding to notorious cartel leaders. “Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar. He is a modern-day iteration of El Chapo Guzmán,”he said. Patel added that Wedding engineered a form of narcotrafficking and narco-terrorismthat has not appeared in years.

Crypto Crime

As part of the indictment, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)added 12

cryptocurrency

addressesto its sanctions list. The addresses operate on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, and BNB Chain.

OFAC directly linked three Tron addressesto Wedding. The remaining nine belong to Rolan Sokolovski, a Canadian-Lithuanian associate who ran a Toronto jewelry business called “Diamond Tsar.”According to the U.S. Treasury, Sokolovski coordinated the central phase of the money-laundering operation.

The case illustrates how criminal networksadopt digital assets to move funds quickly while combining old methods with new technological channels.