2 days ago
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Ex-Olympian and alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding was advised to kill a crucial witness in the case against him by a Canadian lawyer who was arrested by the FBI this week, according to the US Department of Justice.
Deepak Paradkar, the drug violation defense attorney accused of introducing Wedding to the traffickers that have allegedly been moving cocaine for him, was arrested as part of the FBI's crackdown on the former snowboarder and his alleged criminal operation.
In a press conference on Wednesday, US attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel announced new charges against Wedding for witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking. The reward for information leading to his arrest has also been increased from $10million to $15m.
Also in attendance was US attorney Bill Essayli, who described Paradkar as Wedding's lawyer and claimed that he advised him to have a witness killed in order for the case against him to be dismissed.
It comes 10 months after Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, 42, was murdered in broad daylight in the Colombian city of Medellin. He was reportedly set to be a key FBI witness in the case.
'His lawyer advised him to kill this witness. His lawyer told him, "If you kill this witness, the case would be dismissed." That lawyer is now in custody and he’ll be extradited and brought to justice here in the United States,' Essayli said on Wednesday.
Canadian lawyer Deepak Paradkar (pictured) is accused of advising ex-Olympian and alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding to kill a witness in the case against him
Wedding (pictured) has been hit with a host of new criminal charges by the FBI this week
According to the indictment against him, Paradkar allegedly allowed Wedding's supposed right-hand man, self-styled elevator mechanic Andrew Clark, to 'covertly' listen in on a conversation he was having with another accused suspect.
The indictment also claims that while Clark and another defendant discussed murdering another co-accused, Wedding's alleged lawyer advised them to 'discuss the matter on a different chat without him present and to delete any and all discussion of the murder plot.'
Paradkar has been hit with separate sanctions after also being accused of violating the 'trust of his clients and the ethics of his profession' by allowing Wedding and his associates to listen in on privileged communication.
'Paradkar is a Canadian attorney who has provided a range of illegal services to Wedding and his drug trafficking organization beyond the scope of a normal attorney-client relationship,' a news release published by the US Department of the Treasury reads.
'Paradkar introduced Wedding to the drug traffickers that have been moving Wedding’s cocaine and has also helped Wedding with bribery and murder.
'Paradkar violated the trust of his clients and the ethics of his profession by allowing Wedding and his associates to eavesdrop on privileged communications between Paradkar and his other clients, several of whom Wedding wished to murder. Wedding paid Paradkar with luxury watches and additional fees for these illegal services.'
Wednesday's press conference was held less than 24 hours after the case took a twist on Tuesday night, when Canadian police arrested a crime figure in connection with the assassination of the witness.
That is according to La Presse, who revealed that 40-year-old Atna Onha - allegedly nicknamed Tupac - had been detained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the behest of the FBI.
The former snowboarder is accused of running a billion-dollar cocaine smuggling operation
The new wanted poster for Wedding after the FBI increased its reward for information to $15m
Wedding competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (pictured)
Wedding is accused of ordering a hit on the witness by publishing photos of him online, Bondi revealed. The former Olympics star allegedly shared them on a now-deleted website called 'The Dirty News' after he was indicted in 2024.
He has been placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list amid accusations he trafficked tons of cocaine through Colombia and Mexico to be distributed in the US and Canada, while allegedly ordering dozens of murders in North and Latin America.
In total, Wedding has been charged with eight felonies including three counts of murder and one count of attempt to commit murder.
He is also said to have connections to the Hells Angels and to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman - once Mexico's most powerful drug lords.
FBI boss Patel claims Wedding, who was labeled a 'modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar', is responsible for 'engineering a narco trafficking and narco terrorism program that we have not seen in a long time.'
