Olympic snowboarder accused of operating drug cartel pleads not responsible in L.A. listening to – Worldwide Dispatch

Ryan Marriage ceremony, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who allegedly turned the pinnacle of a billion-dollar drug trafficking group, pleaded not responsible to a number of costs towards him Monday and was ordered detained as his case proceeds.

Marriage ceremony, who authorities say was in hiding for greater than a decade and on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wished Fugitives” listing, was arrested final week. He faces 17 felonies in two separate indictments.

Throughout the court docket listening to on the Ronald Reagan Federal Constructing and Courthouse in Santa Ana, Marriage ceremony, who wore a beige jail uniform and black Crocs, scanned the gallery and sometimes smirked. Hulking and tattooed, the 6-foot-3 Marriage ceremony towered over his lawyer and the deputy marshals standing guard within the courtroom.

U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide John D. Early ordered Marriage ceremony jailed with out bond and set the following listening to for Feb. 11.

The choose set a tentative trial date in March, though Marriage ceremony’s lawyer, Anthony Colombo, stated it might in all probability take extra time for the case to unfold.

Colombo didn’t argue for his shopper’s launch on Monday afternoon, later citing “the whirlwind” Marriage ceremony had skilled since his apprehension.

“It takes time to place the sureties in place, to have the data for the court docket to ascertain that there’s a situation or mixture of situations that would safe his launch,” Colombo instructed reporters. “We weren’t within the place right now to try this and we anticipate addressing that at a later date.”

Colombo stated he first met together with his shopper a number of days in the past, after his arrival within the U.S., and described him as being “in good spirits.” Colombo disputed claims from federal authorities that Marriage ceremony had been in hiding in Mexico.

“Hiding out and residing someplace are two various things,” Colombo stated. “I might characterize him as residing; the federal government can characterize it their method.”

Colombo added that his shopper was arrested and “he didn’t give up.”

Marriage ceremony, who was identified by many aliases, together with “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy,” is accused of turning into a serious trafficker of cocaine into Canada and the USA and a ruthless chief who ordered killings, together with one in all a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case towards him. The alleged order resulted within the sufferer being shot to loss of life in a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January 2025, prosecutors stated.

The previous Olympic snowboarder was charged in a 2024 indictment with operating a unbroken legal enterprise, committing assorted drug trafficking crimes and directing the murders of two members of a household in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug cargo.

“Simply to inform you how unhealthy of a man Ryan Marriage ceremony is, he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the most important narco trafficker in trendy occasions,” FBI Director Kash Patel stated in a information convention Friday saying the arrest. “He’s a modern-day El Chapo, he’s a modern-day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he might evade justice.”

When questioned about authorities likening his shopper to El Chapo and Pablo Escobar, Colombo stated, “I feel it’s overstated, that’s their spin.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated final week that Marriage ceremony’s alleged world drug trafficking group “used Los Angeles as its major level of distribution.”

Akil Davis, assistant director answerable for the Los Angeles FBI area workplace, stated after Marriage ceremony’s seize that his alleged group shipped roughly 60 metric tons of cocaine by means of Southern California on its solution to Canada.

Authorities have arrested 36 individuals in reference to the transnational group and the U.S. Treasury Division has sanctioned 19 individuals, together with Marriage ceremony, based on Davis.

Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi beforehand stated Marriage ceremony’s operation was answerable for producing greater than $1 billion a yr in unlawful drug proceeds.

Marriage ceremony competed for his residence nation, Canada, within the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis.

An skilled lawyer, Colombo beforehand represented Rubén Oseguera González, also called “El Menchito,” the son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” the chief of the Jalisco New Era Cartel.

Oseguera González was sentenced final yr to a time period of life in jail plus 30 years to run consecutively for his position in a serious drug trafficking conspiracy.