Federal agents pulled off one of the most valuable vehicle seizures in U.S. law enforcement history when they confiscated a 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Roadster worth $13 million. The car belonged to an international cocaine trafficking operation allegedly run by Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder who competed for Canada before building what prosecutors call a billion-dollar drug empire.
The FBI’s Los Angeles division seized the ultra-rare supercar in November 2025 during Operation Giant Slalom, an investigation spanning four countries. Wedding himself was arrested two months later in Mexico City and now sits in federal custody awaiting trial on murder and drug trafficking charges.
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One of Six Ever Built
The confiscated Mercedes isn’t just expensive. It’s one of six CLK GTR Roadsters ever produced, making it rarer than most museum pieces. Mercedes built these cars in 1998 to meet racing homologation requirements for the FIA GT Championship. The rules forced manufacturers to create street-legal versions of their track cars, and Mercedes responded with 28 total examples: 20 coupes, six roadsters, and two prototypes.
This particular roadster, chassis number five, has barely been driven. The odometer shows just 22 kilometers. The car previously belonged to the royal family of Abu Dhabi before a Toronto jeweler named Rolan Sokolovski purchased it in 2024 for $11.9 million.
According to documents obtained by CBC News, Sokolovski wired a $2 million deposit to secure the vehicle, which was stored at Curated Vintage Supercars in Miami. Federal prosecutors now identify Sokolovski as a money launderer for Wedding’s organization. He faces criminal charges alongside 35 other defendants arrested across North America and Colombia.
The dealership had originally sourced the car for Canadian rapper Drake, but that deal collapsed. Now the Mercedes sits in a federal impound warehouse, photographed under fluorescent lights instead of concours lawns.
From Snowboard to Cocaine Routes
Ryan Wedding finished 24th in parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. After his athletic career ended, he moved to Vancouver, attended Simon Fraser University, and worked as a nightclub bouncer. By 2006, police had discovered he was operating a marijuana grow operation with 6,800 plants.
Wedding avoided charges in that case. But in 2008, FBI agents arrested him in San Diego during a sting operation. He had traveled from Vancouver to buy 24 kilograms of cocaine from someone he thought was a dealer. The dealer was working for federal agents. A jury convicted Wedding of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in November 2009, and he served four years in federal prison.
After his release in December 2011, prosecutors say Wedding moved to Mexico and built a trafficking network connected to the Sinaloa Cartel. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi compared him directly to Pablo Escobar and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, saying his operation moved 60 metric tons of cocaine annually and generated over $1 billion in drug proceeds.
Wedding earned three nicknames in the criminal underworld: “El Jefe” (The Boss), “Giant,” and “Public Enemy.”
Murder Charges and Federal Manhunt
The FBI added Wedding to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on March 6, 2025, initially offering a $10 million reward. That figure jumped to $15 million eight months later when federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment charging him with ordering the murder of a cooperating witness.
Court documents describe how Wedding allegedly placed a bounty on a witness scheduled to testify against him in federal court. The witness was shot five times in the head at a restaurant in Medellรญn, Colombia, in January 2025. Prosecutors say Wedding and his associates posted the victim’s photograph on a Canadian website called the Dirty News to help hired killers identify their target.
Wedding also faces murder charges in connection with the November 2023 killings of Jagtar Sidhu and Harbhajan Sidhu, a married couple from Ontario. Authorities believe Wedding ordered their deaths in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.
The FBI dubbed their investigation Operation Giant Slalom, referencing Wedding’s Olympic event. Agents worked with law enforcement in Canada, Mexico, and Colombia to track the organization’s cocaine routes from South America through Mexico and Southern California into Canada and other U.S. cities.
Arrested After Decade in Hiding
Mexican authorities arrested Ryan Wedding on January 22, 2026, in Mexico City. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the capture, saying Wedding had been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade under cartel protection.
Wedding appeared in federal court in Santa Ana, California, four days later. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was denied bail. His trial date has not been set.
The scope of Operation Giant Slalom extended far beyond Wedding himself. Federal agents arrested 36 people, including Deepak Paradkar, a Canadian criminal defense attorney who allegedly advised Wedding to have the cooperating witness killed. Law enforcement seized more than 2,300 kilograms of cocaine, 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, 44 kilograms of fentanyl, and $55 million in assets including motorcycles, jewelry, and artwork.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 19 individuals connected to Wedding’s operation, cutting them off from the American financial system.
What Happens to a Seized Supercar
The CLK GTR will stay in federal custody until Wedding’s case concludes. If prosecutors win a conviction and the court orders asset forfeiture, the U.S. Marshals Service will auction the car to the highest bidder. The Marshals Service routinely sells seized exotic vehicles, from Lamborghinis to Ferraris, through public auctions.
A comparable CLK GTR Roadster sold for $10.2 million at an RM Sotheby’s auction in 2023. Another attempt to sell a similar car in 2013 failed to meet its reserve, with bidding stopping at $1.3 million. The seized vehicle’s extremely low mileage and criminal provenance could push the price even higher when it eventually hits the auction block.
Revenue from federal asset forfeiture sales goes into the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, which supports law enforcement operations and provides restitution to victims of federal crimes. In this case, any proceeds from the Mercedes would first go toward the $15 million in restitution Wedding owes if convicted, plus the $30 million forfeiture judgment prosecutors are seeking.
The 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR seized in this investigation represents more than a trophy from a drug bust. It’s a 612-horsepower reminder that federal investigators tracked a former Olympian from the slopes of Salt Lake City to the highest levels of international drug trafficking. Wedding traded his snowboard for cocaine routes, and now both he and his $13 million supercar sit in federal custody.
