U.S. Treasury sanctions Canadian firms connected to former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding

FILE — An image of former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, when he was a fugitive, is displayed on a video monitor along with bricks of cocaine, foreground, during a news conference at the FBI offices in Los Angeles, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

OTTAWA — The United States Treasury Department has slapped sanctions on eight Canadian businesses for allegedly helping to evade sanctions on Iran’s government.

The department says it sanctioned money services businesses in British Columbia and Ontario in coordination with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog.

The U.S. Treasury says several of the entities being sanctioned also worked with Ryan Wedding, the alleged drug kingpin and former Canadian Olympic snowboarder.

The department names several companies based in Ontario and British Columbia, including the Million Exchange, NIA Nations Currency, Farah Exchange, Darvish Exchange and several numbered companies.

The department alleges that Wedding used several of these services to launder millions of dollars in drug money through the transfer of digital assets before he was arrested in January.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in a news release that Canada “cannot be a safe haven” for sanctions evasion and financing the Iranian government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2026.